The Name, God stands at once
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाम उच्चारितां कंटीं । पुढें उभा जगजेठी ॥1॥
ऐसें धरोनियां ध्यान । मनें करावें चिंतन ॥ध्रु.॥
ब्रह्मादिकांच्या ध्याना नये । तो हा कीर्तनाचे सोये ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सार घ्यावें । मनें हरिरूप पाहावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When you utter the Name, the Lord of the world stands before you at once. Hold this vision in meditation and let the mind dwell in contemplation. He whom even Brahma and the gods cannot reach in meditation is easily found on the path of kirtan. Says Tuka, grasp this essence: let the mind behold the form of Hari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When you say the Name, the Lord of the world stands before you at once. Hold this sight in your meditation. Let the mind dwell on it. He whom even Brahma and the gods cannot reach by meditation is found easily on the path of kirtan. Tuka says: take this essence. Let the mind look upon the form of Hari.
What it means
Tukaram is naming the shortest road to God. He says the moment you utter the Name, the Lord is already standing in front of you, so the work of meditation is just to hold that nearness and not let the mind wander from it. He sets the easy path against the hard one: what Brahma and the gods strain after in their meditations and cannot reach, the singer of kirtan finds without effort. The point is not that effort is bad but that the Name does what effort alone never could; that is the essence to keep, and to behold Hari with the mind.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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