The Name, the one safe essence
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तपासी तें मन करूं पाहे घात । धरोनि सांगात इंिद्रयांचा ॥1॥
ह्मणोनि कीर्तन आवडलें मज । सांडोनियां लाज हें चि करी ॥ध्रु.॥
पाहातां आगमनिगमाचे ठाव । तेथें नाहीं भाव एकविध ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येथें नाहीं वो विकार । नाम एक सार विठोबाचें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The mind conspires with the senses to destroy one's austerities. Therefore kirtan has won my chitta; casting aside all shame, this alone I do. Even in the depths of scripture, one does not find single-pointed devotion. Says Tuka, here there is no trace of impurity; the Name of Vithoba is the one true essence.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The mind wants to wreck my austerity. It keeps the senses as its allies. So I have come to love kirtan. I throw away my shame and do only this. Look into the places of scripture and ritual, and even there single-minded devotion is not found. Tuka says: here there is no corruption. The one essence is the Name of Vithoba.
What it means
Tukaram is explaining why he gave up the path of austerity for the path of song. He has seen that the mind, working with the senses, will sabotage any private spiritual effort, so he chooses kirtan, which is sung openly and refuses to be ashamed. He goes further and says that even the deep texts of scripture and ritual do not by themselves hold the one undivided devotion he is after. What is left, he claims, is a path with no corruption in it at all: the single Name of Vithoba is the whole of the essence, and he wants nothing else.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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