Abhanga 1244

The name of God, spoken suddenly and simply, carries its own saving power and needs no elaborate effort, only repeating it now and then on the tongue.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Bhupāḷyā 6 of 8 — the avacita coming of the nāma.

The image is intimate and household: the bhakta is just sitting, and avacita (suddenly, unexpectedly) the word Viṭṭhala comes onto the tongue. Gōḍa jālēm pōṭa dhālēm — sweetness came, belly filled — the body's image of contentment from the simple naming.

The Ajāmiḷa reference: he was uplifted nāmā-sāṭīm āpuliyā — for his (= Hari's) own name's sake. This is the same theology as 1214 (Hari's nāma-abhimāna): Hari saves not for the bhakta's worthiness but for the integrity of his own names. Ajāmiḷa called Nārāyaṇa (his son's name) at death — but the Name has its own power; it saved.

Vēḷō-vēḷām vācēsī — time to time on the tongue — the same understated practice as 1233's vēḷō-vēḷām manīm dhyāya. Not constant; not strenuous — but vēḷō-vēḷām on the tongue is enough.

The closing — rūpa tē chi arūpā — that very rūpa shows itself in the arūpa — is profound: the form (Viṭṭhala) reveals itself in the formless (arūpa). The two are not opposites; the rūpa-arūpa-non-difference is what the anubhavī (experiencer) knows.

[T]

For someone today

For today: suddenly the nāma can come on the tongue and pāpa goes; Ajāmiḷa was saved for the Name's-own-sake — vēḷō-vēḷām utterance is enough.

Where this applies

• When a word of comfort or a name suddenly comes to your lips without you planning it, and it eases something inside
• When you feel too flawed or unworthy to be helped, yet find relief anyway through something simple you say or repeat
• When you worry that only rigorous, disciplined practice counts, when a small habit repeated now and then is enough
• When an ordinary, everyday moment of speech ends up carrying something deeper than you expected

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center