The Name, calling at every breath
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सोसें सोसें मारूं हाका । होइल चुका ह्मणऊनि॥1॥
मागें पुढें क्षणभरी । नव्हे दुरी अंतर ॥ध्रु.॥
नाम मुखीं बैसला चाळा। वेळोवेळां पडताळीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सुखी केलें । या विठ्ठलें बहुतांसी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Again and again I call out, fearing I might miss the moment. The distance between before and after is not even a breath. The habit of the name has settled upon my lips; at every turn I verify it is still there. Says Tuka, Vitthal has made multitudes happy in this way.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Over and over I call out, afraid I might miss the moment. Between before and after there is not even a breath of distance. The habit of the name has settled on my lips. Again and again I check that it is still there. Tuka says: Vitthal has made many people happy in just this way.
What it means
Tukaram describes the discipline of constant remembrance as something close to anxious tenderness. He keeps calling the name aloud, afraid of the smallest gap, because the interval between one moment and the next is so thin there is no room to let the name lapse. He has made it a settled habit on his lips, yet he still keeps checking that it is there, the way one keeps touching a precious thing. The closing line widens it from his own case: this is not a private trick but the path by which Vitthal has made multitudes happy.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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