The Name, the gain of a human birth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जन्मा येऊनि तया लाभ जाला । बिडवई भेटला पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
संसारदुःखें नासिलीं तेणें । उत्तम हें केणें नामघोष॥ध्रु.॥
धन्य ते संत सिद्ध महानुभाव । पंढरीचा ठाव टाकियेला ॥2॥
प्रेमदाते ते च पतितपावन । धन्य दरुषण होय त्याला ॥3॥
पावटणिया पंथें जालिया सिद्धी । वोगळे समाधि सायुज्यता ॥4॥
प्रेम अराणूक नाहीं भय धाक । मज तेणें सुखें कांहीं चिंता ॥5॥
तें दुर्लभ संसारासी । जडजीवउद्धारलोकासी ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे त्यासी । धन्य भाग्य दरूषणें ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Blessed is the one who, having taken birth, met a true companion and encountered Panduranga. By that, all the sorrows of worldly life were destroyed; excellent indeed is the practice of chanting the Name. Blessed are those saints, those perfected great beings, who cherished the abode of Pandhari. They are the true givers of love, the purifiers of the fallen; blessed is the one who beholds them. By walking the steps of the proven path, the state of absorption and liberation is attained. Where there is love and ease, there is no fear or dread; what worry can touch me in that joy? That which is rare in worldly life lifts the dull souls of the world. Says Tuka, blessed is the fortune of beholding them.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He took birth, and his birth bore fruit: he met a true companion, and he met Panduranga. By this the sorrows of worldly life were destroyed. The chanting of the Name is the finest of all goods to trade in. Blessed are the saints, the perfected ones, the great souls who held fast to Pandhari. They are the givers of love, the lifters of the fallen; blessed is the one who beholds them. Climbing the steps of this proven path, one reaches absorption and union. Where there is love and ease, there is no fear, no dread; in that joy what worry can touch me? What is rare in this world lifts up the dull, heavy souls of the earth. Tuka says: blessed is the fortune of the one who beholds them.
What it means
Tukaram measures a human birth by one outcome: did it bring you to a true guide and to God. The one whose life met Panduranga has not wasted his birth, for the Name he then learns to chant burns away worldly sorrow and is the richest thing a person can deal in. He then turns to the saints who clung to Pandhari and calls them the givers of love and the rescuers of the fallen, so that even to see them is a blessing. Their path is a proven staircase that climbs to absorption and union with God, and at the top there is such ease that fear and worry no longer reach. The poem ends in gratitude: what is rarest in the world is precisely this company, which lifts the dullest soul, and blessed is the one given the sight of it.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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