The Name, nectar on the tongue
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आपुलिया हिता जो असे जागता अभंग
काय सुख आहे वाउगें बोलतां । ध्यातां पंढरिनाथा कष्ट नाहीं ॥1॥
सर्वकाळ वाचे उच्चारितां हरि । तया सुखा सरि पाड नाहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
रामकृष्णरंगीं रसना रंगली । अमृताची उकळी नाम तुझें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे धन्य तयाचें वदन । जया नारायण ध्यानीं मनीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What joy is there in idle talk? There is no hardship in meditating upon the Lord of Pandhari. The bliss of uttering Hari's name with every breath has no comparison. When the tongue is dyed in the color of Rama and Krishna, Your name becomes a boiling fountain of nectar. Says Tuka, blessed is the face of the one in whose mind and meditation dwells Narayana.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What joy is there in idle talk? There is no hardship in meditating on the Lord of Pandhari. To say Hari's name with every breath, all the time: no other joy can match that bliss. When the tongue is dyed in the colour of Rama and Krishna, Your name is a boiling spring of nectar. Tuka says: blessed is the face of the one who holds Narayana in mind and meditation.
What it means
Tukaram weighs two ways of using the mouth and the mind. Idle chatter gives nothing, while resting the attention on the Lord of Pandhari costs no effort and yields a joy nothing can equal. He pictures the practice physically: the tongue itself takes on the colour of Rama and Krishna until the Name on it tastes like a spring of nectar that keeps welling up. The poem ends by blessing the very face of such a person, making the point that constant remembrance is not a chore to bear but the sweetest thing a human can do.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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