The Name, the easy path
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
यालागीं आवडी ह्मणा राम कृष्ण । जोडा नारायण सर्वकाळ ॥1॥
सोपें हें साधन लाभ येतो घरा । वाचेसी उच्चारा राम हरि ॥ध्रु.॥
न लगती कष्ट न लगे सायास । करावा अभ्यास विठ्ठलाचा ॥2॥
न लगे तप तीर्थ करणें महादान । केल्या एक मन जोडे हरि ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे कांहीं न वेचितां धन । जोडे नारायण नामासाटीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Therefore, with love, chant the names Rama and Krishna. Join with Narayana at all times. This is the easy path. The reward comes right to your door. Let your voice utter Rama and Hari. No hardships are needed, no elaborate efforts. Simply practice the devotion of Vitthal. No austerity, no pilgrimage, no grand charity is required. By making the mind one-pointed, Hari is attained. Says Tuka, without spending any wealth, Narayana is won through the Name alone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
So, with love, say Rama, Krishna. Join with Narayana at all times. This is an easy practice, and the gain comes right to your house. Let your tongue speak Rama, Hari. It needs no hardship, no elaborate effort. Just practice Vitthal. No austerity, no pilgrimage, no great charity is needed. Make the mind one, and Hari is gained. Tuka says: without spending any wealth, Narayana is won through the Name alone.
What it means
Tukaram sets the simple repetition of the Name against the whole apparatus of expensive religion. Austerity, pilgrimage, and grand charity are the costly, effortful, often status-marking routes; the Name costs nothing and is open to anyone with a tongue. The one condition he names is inward, a mind made single, one-pointed. So the path is easy in means but not careless: love and attention do the work that money and exertion claim to. The reward, he says, comes to your own door, no journey required.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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