The Name, the one needed path
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हें चि सर्वसुख जपावा विठ्ठल । न दवडावा पळ क्षण वांयां ॥1॥
हें चि एक सर्वसाधनांचें मूळ । आतुडे गोपाळ येणें पंथें ॥ध्रु.॥
न लगती कांहीं तपांचिया रासी । करणें वाराणसी नाना तीथॉ ॥2॥
कल्पना हे तिळ देहीं अभिमान । नये नारायण जवळी त्यांच्या ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे नामें देव नेदी भेटी । ह्मणे त्याचे होंटीं कुष्ट होय ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This is the supreme joy: to chant the name of Vitthal and not let a single moment go to waste. This alone is the root of all spiritual practice; Gopala is reached by this very path. No heaps of austerities are needed, no pilgrimages to Varanasi or other sacred sites. Where there is even a grain of selfish desire or bodily pride, Narayana does not come near. Says Tuka, if one does not receive God through the Name, then know that leprosy will touch the lips that refuse to utter it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This itself is the whole of joy: to repeat the name of Vitthal, and not let a single moment slip by wasted. This alone is the root of every spiritual practice; by this very path Gopala is reached. You do not need heaps of austerities, nor journeys to Varanasi and the other holy places. Where even a grain of selfish wanting or pride of the body remains, Narayana will not come near. Tuka says: leprosy will eat the lips that refuse to utter the Name.
What it means
Tukaram makes one practice carry everything: the simple, constant repetition of God's name. He calls it both the supreme happiness and the root of all other disciplines, the single path by which Gopala is actually reached. Against this he sets aside the costly machinery of religion, piled-up austerities and pilgrimages to Varanasi, as not the point. The one obstacle he names is inward: any trace of selfish craving or bodily pride keeps Narayana away, so the Name must be uttered from an emptied heart. The closing line is deliberately harsh, almost a curse, on the mouth that will not say the Name. Read inwardly, it is the warning that refusing the one easy gift left to us lets us rot; the severity is aimed at the refusal, not at any person.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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