The Name as the only wealth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
द्रव्याचा तो आह्मी धरितों विटाळ । तया पाठी काळ लाग करी ॥1॥
करोनियां हें चि राहिलों जीवन । एक नारायण नाम ऐसें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे हें चि करुनि जतन । आलिया ही दान याचकासी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I regard wealth itself as a source of contamination, for Death follows close behind it. I have kept this as my sole sustenance: the one Name of Narayana and nothing else. Says Tuka, having guarded this treasure carefully, I will share it freely with any who come asking.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I hold wealth itself to be a defilement. Death follows close behind it. So I have made only this my whole living: the one Name of Narayana, nothing else. Tuka says: I have guarded this treasure with care, and to anyone who comes asking, I will give it freely.
What it means
Tukaram turns the usual sense of riches upside down. He calls money a contamination, because death always trails after it; whatever you pile up, you will leave behind in dread. In its place he keeps one possession only, the Name of Narayana, and lives off it as his daily bread. Then he names the strange economics of that wealth: he hoards it carefully, yet hands it out free to whoever asks, because the Name is the one treasure that grows by being given away.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
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