The Name, no ruin for the devotee
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
स्मरतां कां घडे नास । विष्णुदास यावरी ॥1॥
ऐसी सीमा जाली जगीं । तरी मी वेगीं अनुसरलों ॥ध्रु.॥
धरिलें तें निवडे आतां । न घडे चित्तावेगळें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाश नाहीं । पुराणें ही गर्जती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How can ruin befall a servant of Vishnu who remembers the Name? Such is the proven truth in this world, and that is why I have followed it eagerly. What I have grasped will not be taken from me now; it cannot be separated from my heart. Says Tuka, there is no destruction in this; even the Puranas proclaim it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How can ruin come to a servant of Vishnu who remembers the Name? This is the settled truth in the world, so I followed it at once. What I have grasped cannot be taken from me now; it will not leave my heart. Tuka says: there is no destruction in this. Even the Puranas proclaim it.
What it means
Tukaram states a promise and then his own act of trust. The one who remembers the Name, as a servant of Vishnu, cannot be brought to ruin; this is established truth, so he wasted no time in following it. Now what he has taken hold of has taken hold of him in return: it cannot be pried from his heart. He stakes the claim not only on his own experience but on the Puranas, which themselves declare aloud that for the devotee of the Name there is no destruction.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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