The Name, never stop the kirtan
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सातादिवसांचा जरी जाला उपवासी । तरीं कीर्तनासी टाकुं नये ॥1॥
फुटो हा मस्तक तुटो हें शरीर । नामाचा गजर सोडूं नये ॥ध्रु.॥
शरीराचे होत दोनी ते ही भाग । परि कीर्त्तनाचा रंग सोडों नये ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसा नामीं ज्या निर्धार । तेथें निरंतर देव असे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if you have fasted for seven days, do not abandon the kirtan. Let this head crack open, let this body fall apart, but never stop the chanting of the Name. Even if the body breaks into two pieces, do not give up the joy of kirtan. Says Tuka, wherever there is such firm resolve in the Name, God is ever present there.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even if you have fasted for seven days, do not give up the kirtan. Let this head split, let this body break, but do not let go of the loud singing of the Name. Even if the body breaks into two pieces, do not give up the joy of kirtan. Tuka says: where there is such firm resolve in the Name, God is there without break.
What it means
Tukaram pushes the singing of the Name above every other claim, even the claims of the body. Seven days of fasting, a splitting head, a body falling apart: none of these is reason enough to stop the kirtan. He states it in the most extreme terms, the body broken in two, to make the resolve unmistakable. The point is not to harm the body but to show that nothing outside should be allowed to break the Name. And he names the reward of such firmness: wherever a person holds to the Name with this resolve, God is continuously, unbrokenly present there.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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