The Name, the body made clean
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाली होती काया । बहु मळीन देवराया ॥1॥
तुमच्या उजळली नामें । चित्त प्रक्षािळलें प्रेमें ॥ध्रु.॥
अनुतापें झाला झाडा । प्रारब्धाचा केला तोडा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देह पायीं । ठेवूनि झालों उतराई ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My body had become very impure, O Lord. But it was cleansed and illumined by Your name, and my chitta was washed pure by love. Through remorse, the burden of past destiny was swept away and cut loose. Says Tuka, I placed my body at Your feet and became free of all debt.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My body had grown very impure, O Lord. Your name made it bright again; love washed my mind clean. Through remorse the whole account was swept clear; the knot of past karma was cut. Tuka says: I laid my body at your feet, and my debt was paid.
What it means
Tukaram describes a cleansing he did not work by his own merit. A body grown impure is made bright by the Name; the mind is washed not by ritual but by love. He names remorse as the broom that sweeps the old account away and cuts the binding thread of past karma. The final act is to lay the whole body at God's feet, and in that surrender the debt is settled. The poem holds out the Name and remorse as enough, with no penance added.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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