The Name, austerity made needless
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तपाचे सायास । न लगे घेणें वनवास ॥1॥
ऐसें कळलें आह्मां एक । जालों नामाचे धारक ॥ध्रु.॥
जाळीं महाकर्में । दावीं निजसुख धर्में ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येणें । किळकाळ तें ठेंगणें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The labor of austerities and the ordeal of forest exile are not needed. This much has become clear to us: we have become bearers of the Name. It burns away the mightiest karmas and reveals the bliss of one's true nature. Says Tuka, by this Name, even Death is brought low.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The labor of austerities is not needed, nor any exile in the forest. This one thing has become clear to us: we have become bearers of the Name. It burns up the mightiest deeds and shows the bliss of one's own true nature. Tuka says: by this, even Death is made small.
What it means
Tukaram is setting the Name against the hard old roads to liberation. The grinding austerities and the long retreat into the forest are not required; the one thing that has become plain to him is simpler and greater, that he and his fellows now carry the Name. He claims the Name does what those labors aimed at: it burns away even the heaviest accumulated karma and uncovers the bliss that is one's own nature. The final stroke names the highest stake: held against the Name, even Death stands diminished and small.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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