The Name, two simple syllables
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
राम राम दोनी अक्षरें । सुलभ आणि सोपारें । जागा मागिले पाहारें । सेवटिचें गोड तें चि खरें गा ॥१॥
राम कृष्ण वासुदेवा । जाणवी जनासि । वाजवी चिपळिया । टाळ घागर्यावघोषें गा ॥ध्रु.॥
गाय वासुदेव वासुदेवा । भिन्न नाहीं आणिका नांवा । दान जाणोनियां करीं आवा । न ठेवीं उरीं कांहीं ठेवा गा ॥२॥
एक वेळा जाणविती । धरूनियां राहा चित्तीं । नेघें भार सांडीं कामा हातीं । नीज घेउनि फिरती गा ॥३॥
सुपात्रीं सर्व भाव । मी तों सर्व वासुदेव । जाणती कृपाळु संत महानुभाव । जया भिन्न भेद नाहीं ठाव गा ॥४॥
शूर दान जीवें उदार । नाहीं वासुदेवी विसर । कीर्ति वाढे चराचर । तुका म्हणे तया नमस्कार गा ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Rama, Rama: two syllables, simple and easy. Wake in the last watch of the night, for that which is final is truly sweet. The singer of Vasudeva chants Vasudeva and knows no other name. Give generously; hold nothing back. Even if told only once, keep it firm in the heart; do not take on burdens, let go of labor, and rest in devotion. All beings carry the divine within them; the saint who knows this sees no difference anywhere. Says Tuka, I bow to those heroes of generosity who never forget Vasudeva, whose fame fills the moving and the still.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Rama, Rama: two syllables, easy and simple. Wake in the last watch of the night. What comes at the end is the truly sweet thing. Rama, Krishna, Vasudeva: I make it known to people, playing the small cymbals, the bells, the loud chant. Sing Vasudeva, Vasudeva; there is no other name apart from it. Knowing this, make your gift; keep nothing back in your heart. Even if you are told only once, hold it and stay in your mind. Do not take on burdens; drop the work from your hands. Take your rest in it and go your round. Where the vessel is worthy, all feeling is there: I am wholly Vasudeva. The merciful saints, the great souls, know this; for them there is no place where difference stands. Brave and open-handed with their very lives, never forgetting Vasudeva, their fame grows through all that moves and is still. Tuka says: to them I bow.
What it means
Tukaram presses the whole of the path into the smallest possible thing: two syllables, Rama, said simply, best of all in the last watch before dawn. The teaching is that ease is no objection; the Name is meant to be available to everyone, and the singer carries it through the streets with cymbals and the loud chant. Behind the simplicity sits a non-dual claim, 'I am wholly Vasudeva,' the recognition that the divine is not other and that for the saints who see this no real difference stands anywhere. The poem links this inner seeing to outward generosity: those who give freely and never forget the Name are the heroes he honors. He ends not by instructing but by bowing to them, making admiration itself the close.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
More in this theme →