The Name, the one remedy of this age
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आणीक काळें न चले उपाय । धरावे या पाय विठोबाचे ॥१॥
अवघें चि पुण्य असे तया पोटीं । अवघिया तुटी होय पापा ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघें मोकळें अवघिया काळें । उद्धरती कुळें नरनारी ॥२॥
काळ वेळ नाहीं गर्भवासदुःखें । उच्चारितां मुखें नाम एक ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे कांहीं न लगे सांडावें । सांगतसें भावें घेती तयां ॥४॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In this dark age no other remedy avails; one must hold fast to the feet of Vitthoba. All merit resides within those feet, and all sins are destroyed thereby. Everything is set free in every age; men and women and their entire lineages are redeemed. There is no fixed time or occasion, no suffering of the womb; simply uttering the Name with one's mouth is enough. Says Tuka, nothing needs to be abandoned; I say this with sincerity to all who will receive it with faith.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In this dark age no other remedy works. Hold fast to the feet of Vithoba. All merit lies in those feet. By them all sin is cut away. In every age everything is set free. Men and women and their whole families are saved. There is no fixed time, no fixed hour, no pain of the womb. Just speak the one Name with your mouth. Tuka says: nothing has to be given up. I tell this in sincerity to all who will take it in faith.
What it means
Tukaram is naming the single sufficient practice for the present age. He says no other method holds, and reduces it all to one act: cling to Vithoba's feet, where every merit is gathered and every sin is undone. The Name needs no qualification, no proper hour, no ordeal; simply uttering it with the mouth rescues whole families. The closing line removes the last objection people raise: you do not have to renounce or abandon anything first, and he offers this in earnest to anyone willing to receive it with faith.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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