Grace, the Name covers the flawed devotee
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
प्रीति नाही राया वजिनली ते कांता । परी तिची सत्ता जगावरी ॥1॥
तैसे दंभी जालों तरी तुझे भक्त । वास यमदूत न पाहाती ॥ध्रु.॥
राजयाचा पुत्र अपराधी देखा । तो काय आणिकां दंडवेल ॥2॥
बाहातरी खोडी परी देवमण कंठीं । तैसो जगजेठी ह्मणे तुका ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A queen who has fallen out of the king's favor is still his wife, and her authority over the realm remains. Similarly, even if we have become devotees merely in outward appearance, the messengers of Yama will not look our way. Even a prince who commits offense cannot be punished by outsiders. Says Tuka, there may be seventy-two faults in him, yet the gem of God's Name hangs at his throat.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A queen who has lost the king's love is still his wife, and her power over the realm still holds. So even if I have become a devotee only in show, the messengers of Yama do not look my way. A king's son who does wrong cannot be punished by outsiders. Tuka says: there may be seventy-two faults in him, yet the jewel of God's name hangs at his throat; so he belongs to the Lord of the worlds.
What it means
Tukaram presses an uncomfortable comfort: belonging counts even when the love has gone cold and the conduct is poor. The fallen queen keeps her standing because she is the king's; the wayward prince is beyond outsiders' punishment because he is the king's son. By the same logic, one who wears God's name, even a hypocrite full of faults, is shielded from Yama's agents, because the name marks him as God's own. He is not excusing the seventy-two faults; he is saying that the claim of belonging, the jewel at the throat, is stronger than the flaws, and the one who wears it is the Lord's to deal with, no one else's.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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