The Name that saved the fallen
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गाऊं नेणें परी मी कांहीं गाईन । शरण जाईन पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
ब्रह्मांडनायक मी त्याचा अंकित । काय यमदूत करिती काळ ॥ध्रु.॥
वश्या ज्याच्या नामें तारिली गणिका । अजामेळासारिखा पापरासीं ॥2॥
चरणींच्या रजें अहिल्या तारिली। रूपवंत केली कुबजा क्षणें ॥3॥
पृथिवी तारिली पाताळासी जातां। तुका ह्मणे आतां आह्मी किती ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I do not know how to sing, yet I will sing something and surrender to Panduranga. He is the Lord of the universe and I am His own; what can Yama and his servants do to me? By His Name alone, the courtesan was purified, and Ajamila, that heap of sin, was saved. By the dust of His feet Ahalya was delivered, and Kubja was made beautiful in an instant. When the earth was sinking into the abyss, He saved her. Says Tuka, if He rescued all of them, how much more easily can He save us?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I do not know how to sing, yet I will sing something and go for refuge to Panduranga. I am the servant of the Lord of the universe; what can the messengers of Yama do to me? By his Name the courtesan was carried across, and Ajamila, that heap of sin, was saved. By the dust of his feet Ahalya was delivered; Kubja was made beautiful in a moment. He saved the earth as she sank into the abyss. Tuka says: if he saved all of them, how much are we?
What it means
Tukaram begins by disowning any skill: he cannot really sing, but he will sing anyway and take refuge in Panduranga, because what he lacks the Lord supplies. Owning himself as the servant of the Lord of all worlds, he asks what Yama's death-messengers could possibly do to one who belongs to God. Then he piles up the old rescues, the courtesan, the sinner Ajamila, Ahalya, Kubja, the sinking earth, to show how far that saving power reaches, even to the most fallen. The closing turn is his comfort and ours: if God lifted all of those, then we are a small thing for him to save.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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