The Name, the world washed clean
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संसाराच्या नांवें घालूनियां शून्य । वाढता हा पुण्य केला धर्म ॥1॥
हरिभजनें हें धविळलें जग । चुकविला लाग किळकाळाचा ॥ध्रु.॥
कोणां ही नलगे साधनांचा पांग । करणें केला त्याग देहबुद्धी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सुख समाधि हरिकथा । नेणें भववेथा गाईल तो ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
By placing a zero over the name of worldly life, the growing merit of dharma has been accomplished. Through the devotion of Hari, the world has been cleansed, and the grip of death and time has been escaped. No one need labor over complicated spiritual practices; what is required is the renunciation of body-consciousness. Says Tuka, the joy and peace of Hari's story is supreme; one who sings it knows nothing of worldly suffering.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Put a zero over the name of worldly life, and the merit of true dharma keeps growing. Singing Hari has made the world white and clean; the grip of death and time is escaped. No one needs the burden of hard practices; what must be done is to give up body-consciousness. Tuka says: the joy and stillness of Hari's story is the highest; whoever sings it knows nothing of worldly sorrow.
What it means
Tukaram sets worldly life and the singing of Hari side by side and crosses out the first. Cancel the value placed on samsara, and true merit grows on its own; sing the Name, and the world is washed white and slips free of the noose of death and time. He insists the path needs no elaborate apparatus of technique; the one renunciation that matters is letting go of the belief that you are the body. What remains is the joy and the deep stillness of telling Hari's story, and the one who lives in that singing simply no longer knows worldly grief.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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