The Name, the open market for all
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भरणी आली मुक्त पेठा । करा लाटा व्यापार ॥1॥
उधार घ्या रे उधार घ्या रे । अवघे या रे जातीचे ॥ध्रु.॥
येथें पंक्तिभेद नाहीं । मोठें कांहीं लहान ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे लाभ घ्यावा। मुद्दल भावा जतन ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The fair is open and the market is free. Trade now and reap the profit. Take on credit, take on credit. Come, all of you, all castes together. Here there is no distinction of status, no high or low. Says Tuka, take this profit. Guard the capital of pure devotion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The shipment has come, the market is open. Strike your trade now. Take it on credit, take it on credit. Come, all of you, every caste. Here there is no ranking by rank, nothing greater, nothing smaller. Tuka says: take the profit. Guard the capital, which is devotion.
What it means
Tukaram pictures the Name as a market thrown open to everyone. The goods have arrived, the trade is free, and he calls all castes in together, declaring that here there is no high and low, no ranking by status. That leveling is the radical point: the wealth of God is sold to anyone on credit, regardless of birth or standing. The profit is liberation, freely available; and the one thing to protect is the capital that makes the trade, which he names as pure devotion.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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