The Name, the open mantra over secret ritual
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नेत्र झाकोनियां काय जपतोसी । जंव नाहीं मानसीं भावप्रेम ॥1॥
उघडा मंत्र जाणा राम कृष्ण ह्मणा । तुटती यातना गर्भवास ॥ध्रु.॥
मंत्र यंत्र कांहीं करिसी जडी बुटी । तेणें भूतसृष्टी पावशील ॥2॥
सार तुका जपे बीजमंत्र एक । भवसिंधुतारक रामकृष्ण ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What use is sitting with eyes shut in japa when there is no love or devotion within the mind? Know the open, revealed mantra: say Rama, say Krishna; the torments of the womb will be severed. Whatever mantras, yantras, herbs, or charms you practice, they will only lead you to the realm of ghosts and spirits. Says Tuka, chant the one true seed-mantra, Rama-Krishna, the savior who carries one across the ocean of existence.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why do you sit there in japa with your eyes shut, when there is no love or devotion in your heart? Know the open mantra: say Rama, say Krishna. The torments of the womb are cut off. Whatever mantras, diagrams, herbs, and charms you work, they will only bring you to the world of ghosts and spirits. Tuka says: the essence is to chant the one seed-mantra, Rama-Krishna, which carries you across the ocean of existence.
What it means
Tukaram strips ritual down to its one needful thing. Closed-eyed recitation is hollow if the heart holds no love, so outward practice without inner feeling counts for nothing. Against secret techniques, diagrams, herbs, and charms, which he says lead only to lower realms of ghosts and spirits, he sets the plain Name that anyone may speak. Saying Rama and Krishna openly cuts off the suffering of being born again. The essence he lands is that this single seed-mantra, Rama-Krishna, is the boat that ferries one across the whole ocean of birth and death.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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