The Name as the whole of practice
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हें चि माझें तप हें चि माझें दान । हें चि अनुष्ठान नाम तुझें ॥1॥
हें चि माझें तीर्थ हें चि माझें व्रत । सत्य हें सुकृत नाम तुझें ॥ध्रु.॥
हा चि माझा धर्म हें चि माझें कर्म । हा चि नित्यनेम नाम तुझें ॥2॥
हा चि माझा योग हा चि माझा यज्ञ । हें चि जपध्यान नाम तुझें ॥3॥
हें चि माझें ज्ञान श्रवण मनन । हें चि निजध्यासन नाम तुझे ॥4॥
हा चि कुळाचार हा चि कुळधर्म । हा चि नित्यनेम नाम तुझें ॥5॥
हा माझा आचार हा माझा विचार । हा माझा निर्धार नाम तुझें ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे दुजें सांगायासि नाहीं । नामेंविण कांहीं धनवित्त ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Your name is my austerity, Your name is my charity, Your name is my spiritual discipline. Your name is my pilgrimage, Your name is my vow, Your name is my true merit. Your name is my dharma, Your name is my work, Your name is my daily practice. Your name is my yoga, Your name is my sacrifice, Your name is my prayer and meditation. Your name is my knowledge, my listening, and my reflection. Your name is my constant contemplation. Your name is my family tradition, my family dharma, and my daily observance. Your name is my conduct, my thought, and my firm resolve. Says Tuka, there is nothing else to declare. Without the Name, I have no wealth at all.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This alone is my austerity, this alone is my charity, this alone is my discipline: Your name. This alone is my pilgrimage, this alone is my vow; my one true merit is Your name. This is my dharma, this is my work, this is my daily rule: Your name. This is my yoga, this is my sacrifice, this is my muttered prayer and meditation: Your name. This is my knowledge, my listening, my reflection, my constant dwelling within: Your name. This is my family custom, my family dharma, my daily observance: Your name. This is my conduct, my thinking, my firm resolve: Your name. Tuka says: there is nothing else to tell of. Without the Name I have no wealth at all.
What it means
Tukaram is collapsing the whole range of religion into one practice and saying it has fully replaced the rest. Item by item he takes the recognized works, austerity, charity, pilgrimage, vows, ritual duty, yoga, sacrifice, scriptural study, family custom, and assigns every one of them the same single content: Your name. This is not adding the Name to the list; it is the Name standing in for the entire list. The repetition is the argument, each line shutting another door until only chanting is left. He ends by stripping himself bare on purpose: there is nothing else to report, and apart from the Name he owns no wealth at all.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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