The Name, roar it in kirtan
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विठ्ठल विठ्ठल येणें छंदें । ब्रह्मानंदें गर्जावें ॥1॥
वाये टाळ टाळ्याटाळी । होइल होळी विघ्नांची ॥ध्रु.॥
विठ्ठल आद्ये अवसानीं । विठ्ठल मनीं स्मरावा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे विठ्ठलवाणी। वदा कानीं आईका ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
With the chant of Vitthal, Vitthal, roar with the bliss of Brahman. Clap your hands and strike the cymbals; the obstacles will be burnt to cinders. At the beginning and at the end, remember Vitthal; hold Vitthal always in the mind. Says Tuka, let the word Vitthal be ever on your tongue and in your ears.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Chant Vitthal, Vitthal, and roar it out with the bliss of Brahman. Clap your hands, strike the cymbals, and every obstacle will burn to cinders. At the beginning and at the very end, remember Vitthal; keep Vitthal always in the mind. Tuka says: let the word Vitthal be forever on your tongue and in your ears.
What it means
A rousing call to kirtan, the communal chanting of the Name. Tukaram urges not a quiet murmur but a roar, full-throated, with clapping and cymbals, and promises that such full-bodied remembrance burns up every obstacle. The instruction to remember Vitthal at the beginning and the end, and to keep him constantly in mind, makes the Name the frame of the whole of life and of each undertaking. And the close asks for total saturation: the Name on the tongue and in the ears at once, so that hearing and speaking are both filled with God. The Name is to be lived in, not merely said.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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