The Name, the garland of refuge
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बैसों खेळूं जेवूं । तेथें नाम तुझें गाऊं ॥1॥
रामकृष्णनाममाळा । घालूं ओवुनियां गळा ॥ध्रु.॥
विश्वास हा धरूं। नाम बळकट करूं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां । आह्मां जीवन शरणागतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whether sitting, playing, or eating, we will sing Your Name. We will string the garland of the names Rama and Krishna and place it around our necks. We will hold fast to this faith and make the Name our stronghold. Says Tuka, the Name is now the very sustenance of us who have taken refuge.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Sitting, playing, eating, there we will sing Your name. We will thread the garland of the names Rama and Krishna and hang it on our necks. We will hold this faith. We will make the Name our fortress. Tuka says: now the Name is the very life of us who have taken refuge.
What it means
Tukaram sets out a way of living where the Name is woven through every ordinary act. Whatever they are doing, sitting, playing, eating, they will be singing it, and they will string the names of Rama and Krishna into a garland worn at the throat. He turns the Name into two things at once: a held faith and a stronghold, a fortress they make strong by repetition. The closing line gives the reason it can bear that weight: for those who have surrendered, the Name is not a practice among others but their very sustenance, the life they live on. Refuge here is continuous, not occasional.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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