The Name, the one essential act
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संसारीं असतां हरिनाम घेसी । तरीं च उद्धरसी पूर्वजेंसी ॥1॥
अवघीं च इंिद्रयें न येती कामा । जिव्हे रामनामा उच्चारीं वेगीं ॥ध्रु.॥
शरीरसंपित्त नव्हे रे आपुली । भ्रांतीची माउली अवघी व्यर्थ ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सार हरिनामउच्चार । येहवी येरझार हरीविण ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If while living in the world you take the name of Hari, then you will be liberated along with your ancestors. All the senses prove useless in the end; let the tongue quickly utter the name of Rama. Bodily wealth is not truly yours; it is all the vain progeny of delusion. Says Tuka, the essence is the utterance of Hari's name; without Hari, everything else is mere running back and forth.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If, while living in the world, you take the name of Hari, then you will be carried across, and your ancestors with you. None of the senses will come to your aid at the end; quickly, with the tongue, say the name of Rama. The body and its wealth are not really yours; they are the useless offspring of delusion. Tuka says: the essence is the saying of Hari's name. Apart from that, without Hari, there is only going back and forth.
What it means
Tukaram tells the householder that liberation does not wait for retreat from the world; take Hari's name while still in the thick of it, and you will be carried across, your ancestors lifted along with you. At the end the senses give no help, so he urges the simplest possible act now: let the tongue say Rama's name. Body and possessions feel like ours but are only the barren children of delusion, nothing to lean on. The whole teaching reduces to one thing: uttering Hari's name is the essence, and without it life is just endless coming and going.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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