The Name, even Death trembles
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हरि ह्मणतां गति पातकें नासती । किळकाळ कांपती हरि ह्मणतां ॥1॥
हरि ह्मणतां भुक्ति हरि ह्मणतां मुक्ति । चुके यातायाती हरि ह्मणतां ॥ध्रु.॥
तुका ह्मणे भावें जपा हरिचें नाम । मग काळयम शरण तुह्मा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
By saying Hari, sins are destroyed and liberation is attained. By saying Hari, even Death trembles. By saying Hari there is worldly well-being; by saying Hari there is liberation; by saying Hari the cycle of births and deaths is broken. Says Tuka, chant Hari's Name with devotion, and then even Yama and Death will bow down to you.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Say Hari, and sins are destroyed and the soul is freed; say Hari, and even Death trembles. Say Hari, and there is well-being; say Hari, and there is liberation; say Hari, and the round of births and deaths is broken. Tuka says: chant Hari's Name with love, and then Yama and Death will bow at your feet.
What it means
Tukaram piles up the powers of the Name to show there is nothing it cannot do. Spoken sincerely, Hari's Name burns away sins, frees the soul, and makes even Death shake. The same Name gives worldly good and final liberation alike, and it cuts the long chain of birth and death at the root. The condition he names is devotion: the Name is to be chanted with feeling, not muttered as a charm. To one who does so the order is reversed: Yama, the lord of death who rules all others, comes and bows. The poem hands the helpless a single, sufficient practice.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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