The Name, no faith in Vitthal is hell
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विठ्ठलनामाचा नाहीं ज्या विश्वास । तो वसे उदास नरकामध्यें ॥1॥
तयासी बोलतां होईल विटाळ । नेव जाये तो जळस्नान करितां ॥ध्रु.॥
विठ्ठलनामाची नाहीं ज्या आवडी । त्याची काळ घडी लेखिताहे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मज विठोबाची आण। जरी प्रतिवचन करिन त्यासी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who has no faith in Vitthal's Name dwells in a desolate hell. Even speaking to such a person brings contamination that does not wash away with bathing. One who has no love for Vitthal's Name is being counted moment by moment by Death. Says Tuka, I swear by Vitthal: I shall not even answer such a one.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One who has no faith in Vitthal's Name dwells in a desolate hell. Even speaking to such a person brings a defilement that no bathing washes away. One who has no love for Vitthal's Name has his every moment counted off by Death. Tuka says: I swear by Vithoba, I will not even answer such a one.
What it means
Tukaram states bluntly how much the Name matters to him. The person who has no faith in Vitthal's Name is already living in a barren hell, and merely talking with him leaves a stain that ritual bathing cannot rinse off. For the one who has no love for the Name, time itself is only Death counting down his moments. The harshness is aimed at the condition, faithlessness, not at the man's worth; it measures the gulf the Name opens. Tukaram seals it with an oath in Vithoba's own name: he will not so much as answer such a person, so completely does he stake his life on devotion.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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