The Name, do not let the mind sit idle
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
रिकामें तूं नको मना । राहों क्षणक्षणा ही ॥1॥
वेळोवेळां पारायण । नारायण हें करीं ॥ध्रु.॥
भ्रमणांच्या मोडीं वाटा। न भरें फाटा आडरानें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझ्या जीवें । हें चि घ्यावें धणीवरी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O mind, do not remain idle even for a single moment. Again and again, recite the name of Narayana. Break off the paths of wandering; do not stray into the wild thickets. Says Tuka, my jiva desires nothing else; take this Name until you are fully satisfied.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
O mind, do not stay empty. Do not rest idle, even for a moment. Again and again make your reading; say Narayana, Narayana. Break off the roads of wandering. Do not turn down the side-paths into the wild brush. Tuka says: with my whole life this is all I would take, and take it till I am full.
What it means
Tukaram is instructing his own restless mind. He forbids it the smallest idle moment, because emptiness is where wandering begins. The remedy is constant parayana, repeating the name Narayana over and over until it fills the time the mind would otherwise squander. He tells the mind to break off its habitual roads and not stray onto the side-paths that lead into the wild thickets of distraction. For himself he wants nothing else: only to take this Name, with his whole being, until he is wholly satisfied.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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