The Name, drop the labor
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गाबाळाचे ग्रंथीं कां रे पडां सदा । मिथ्या भेदवादा वागवितां ॥1॥
संसारगाबाळीं पडसी निखळ । जालासी तूं खळ तेणें मना ॥ध्रु.॥
साधनसंकटीं गुंतसी कासया । व्यर्थ गा अपायामाजी गुंती ॥2॥
निर्मळ फुकाचें नाम गोविंदाचें । अनंतजन्माचे फेडी मळ ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे नको करूं कांहीं कष्ट । नाम वाचे स्पष्ट हरि बोलें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why do you remain entangled in confusing texts and false disputes over differences? You have become thoroughly ensnared in worldly confusion, and your mind has grown wicked by it. Why do you get caught up in difficult practices? It is a vain and harmful entanglement. The name of Govinda is pure and free; it washes away the stains of countless births. Says Tuka, do not labor at anything; simply speak the name of Hari clearly with your tongue.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why do you keep falling into muddled books, carrying around false talk of this difference and that? You sink right into the mess of worldly life, and your mind turns hard and wicked from it. Why get tangled in difficult practices? It is a useless snare, full of harm. The name of Govinda is clean and free of cost. It wipes away the stains of countless births. Tuka says: do not work yourself to exhaustion. Just speak the name of Hari clearly with your tongue.
What it means
Tukaram attacks the impulse to make liberation into hard labor and clever argument. He points to two traps: getting lost in confusing texts and quarrels over differences, and getting tangled in austere practices that only entangle you further. Against both he sets the Name of Govinda, which costs nothing and is freely available, and which washes off the residue of innumerable births. His instruction is to stop straining and simply say the Name aloud. The radical claim is that the easiest thing, the spoken Name, does what all the strenuous methods promised and failed to do.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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