The Name, the simple road across
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वेदाचें गव्हर न कळे पाठकां । अधिकार लोकां नाहीं येरां ॥१॥
विठोबाचें नाम सुलभ सोपारें । तारी एक सरे भवसिंधु ॥ध्रु.॥
जाणत्या असाध्य मंत्र तंत्र काळ । येर तो सकळ मूढ लोक ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे विधि निषेध लोपला । उच्छेद या जाला मारगाचा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The depths of the Vedas cannot be grasped by mere reciters, and ordinary people have no authority over them. The name of Vitthal is easy and simple; it alone carries one across the ocean of worldly existence. Mantras and rituals are difficult even for the learned, and the rest of the world is foolish. Says Tuka, the path of scriptural rules has been lost, and the way itself has been destroyed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The deep meaning of the Vedas is beyond the reciters; ordinary people have no right to it at all. But the name of Vithoba is easy and simple. That alone carries you across the ocean of this world. Mantras and rituals and the right timings are hard even for the learned, and all the rest of the people are fools before them. Tuka says: the rules of what to do and what not to do have fallen away. The whole old path has been broken open.
What it means
Tukaram sets the locked door of Vedic learning against the open door of the Name. The depths of the Vedas are beyond mere reciters, and most people were never granted the authority to approach them at all; even the learned struggle with the right mantras, rites, and astrological timings. Against this whole apparatus he holds up one thing: the name of Vithoba, easy, simple, available to anyone, and by itself enough to carry a soul across the ocean of worldly existence. The closing claim is deliberately radical. The old machinery of permitted and forbidden has collapsed and the gatekept path is broken open, because the Name has made it unnecessary.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
More in this theme →