The Name at the hour of death
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आविसाचे आसे गळ गिळी मासा । फुटोनियां घसा मरण पावे ॥1॥
मरणाचे वेळे करी तळमळ । आठवी कृपाळ तये वेळीं ॥2॥
अंतकाळीं ज्याच्या नाम आलें मुखा । तुका ह्मणे सुखा पार नाहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Lured by the bait of desire, a fish swallows the hook. Its throat is torn and it perishes. In its dying moments it writhes in agony and remembers the gracious Lord. Says Tuka, for the one whose lips utter the Name at the hour of death, there is no limit to the bliss that follows.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A fish, drawn by the bait, swallows the hook. Its throat tears open and it dies. In its dying moment it writhes, and just then it remembers the gracious Lord. Tuka says: for the one whose lips speak the Name at the hour of death, there is no end to the bliss that comes.
What it means
Tukaram takes the most ordinary image of a trapped, dying creature and turns it toward the one thing that still matters at the end. The fish is caught by greed, and in its final agony something in it cries out and remembers God. The poem's claim is that the Name spoken at the very last breath is not too little and not too late: it opens onto bliss without limit. He is naming where to put your trust now, while there is still time to make the Name a habit, so that it rises on its own when the throat is failing.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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