The Name lifts the lowly, not the learned
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भोळे भक्तिभाव धरिती मानसीं । त्यासी हृषीकेशी जवळी च ॥1॥
भाव नाहीं मनीं अभाविक सदा । त्याचिया मी खेदा काय सांगों ॥ध्रु.॥
गणिकेसारिकीं नामें उद्धरीलीं । सज्ञानें पडिलीं खटाटोपीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे काय शुद्ध माझी जाति । थोर केली ख्याती हरिनामें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those innocent souls who hold sincere devotion in their minds find Hrishikesha always near. Those without faith, forever faithless, their misery is beyond my words. Courtesans were liberated by the Name alone, while scholars fell into elaborate traps of their own making. Says Tuka, what purity does my caste possess? It is Hari's name that has given me great renown.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The simple souls who hold a sincere heart in their minds, Hrishikesha stays close to them. Those who have no faith in their minds, who are always faithless, what can I say about their misery? Courtesans were lifted up by the Name alone. Scholars fell into their own elaborate traps. Tuka says: what is so pure about my caste? It is Hari's name that has made me known.
What it means
Tukaram sets nearness to God by one measure only: a sincere heart, not learning or birth. The unschooled who simply trust find Hrishikesha standing beside them, while the clever who trust nothing build cages of their own making and fall into them. He drives the point home with the sharpest contrast available: courtesans, the most despised, were carried across by the Name, while scholars sank. Then he turns it on himself, refusing any claim to high caste, and says plainly that whatever renown he has comes from Hari's name and not from him. The poem asks you to stop trusting your credentials and start trusting the Name.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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