The Name, challenge to the saints
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाम घेतां वांयां गेलां । ऐसा कोणें आईिकला ॥1॥
सांगा विनवितों तुह्मांसी । संत महंत सिद्ध ॠषी ॥ध्रु.॥
नामें तरला नाहीं कोण । ऐसा द्यावा निवडून ॥2॥
सलगीच्या उत्तरा । तुका ह्मणे क्षमा करा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Has anyone ever heard of the Name being taken in vain? I ask you humbly, O saints, sages, and perfected ones. Show me a single person who was not saved by the Name. Says Tuka, forgive these frank words spoken out of familiarity.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Has anyone ever heard of the name being taken in vain? I ask you humbly: O saints, O great ones, O perfected souls, O sages, tell me. Show me one single person whom the name did not save. Tuka says: forgive these frank words; I speak them out of nearness to you.
What it means
Tukaram turns his certainty into a challenge and lays it before the whole company of the holy. He is not asking whether the name works; he is daring anyone, even the greatest, to produce a single soul it ever failed. The silence is the proof. The closing line softens the boldness without taking it back: he asks pardon for speaking so plainly, calling it the frankness of one who feels close enough to press the question. The familiarity is real; so is the claim.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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