Ecstasy, the all-Vitthal life
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विठ्ठल गीतीं विठ्ठल चित्तीं । विठ्ठल विश्रांति भोग जया ॥1॥
विठ्ठल आसनीं विठ्ठल शयनीं । विठ्ठल भोजनीं ग्रासोग्रासीं ॥ध्रु.॥
विठ्ठल जागृतिस्वप्नी सुषुिप्त । आन दुजें नेणती विठ्ठलेंविण ॥2॥
भूषण अळंकार सुखाचे प्रकार । विठ्ठल निर्धार जयां नरां ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे ते ही विठ्ठल चि जाले । संकल्प मुराले दुजेपणें ॥4॥
तेथें प्रेमाचा सुकाळ । टाळमृदंगकल्लोळ ।
नासे दुष्टबुिद्ध सकळ । समाधि हरिकीर्त्तनीं ॥ध्रु.॥
ऐकतां हरिकथा । भक्ति लागे त्या अभक्तां ॥2॥
देखोनि कीर्तनाचा रंग । कैसा उभा पांडुरंग ॥3॥
हें सुख ब्रह्मादिकां । ह्मणे नाहीं नाहीं तुका ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Vitthal in one's songs, Vitthal in the chitta, Vitthal as one's rest and sustenance. Vitthal at one's seat, Vitthal at one's bed, Vitthal in every morsel of food. Vitthal in waking, dreaming, and deep sleep; those who know nothing other than Vitthal. Vitthal is their ornament, their happiness, their everything. Says Tuka, they too have become Vitthal. All sense of duality has dissolved. Where their love abounds, cymbals and drums resound. All wicked buddhi is destroyed in the samadhi of Hari's kirtan. Even the faithless, hearing Hari's story, find devotion stirring. Seeing the joy of kirtan, Panduranga Himself stands watching. Says Tuka, this happiness is not available even to Brahma and the other gods.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Vitthal in their songs, Vitthal in their mind, Vitthal their rest and their nourishment. Vitthal in their sitting, Vitthal in their sleeping, Vitthal in every mouthful of food. Vitthal in waking, in dreaming, in deep sleep; they know nothing other than Vitthal. Vitthal is their ornament, their every kind of happiness, the one thing certain to them. Tuka says: they too have become Vitthal; every separate intention has dissolved into oneness. There the love overflows, cymbals and drums break into waves of sound. All wicked thought is destroyed; the kirtan of Hari is itself samadhi. Hearing the story of Hari, even the faithless feel devotion stir. Seeing the color of the kirtan, look how Panduranga Himself stands there. Tuka says: this joy is not had even by Brahma and the gods. No, not by them.
What it means
Tukaram describes a life so soaked in Vitthal that nothing else is left. The Name fills song, mind, food, seat, bed, and runs through all three states of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep, until the devotees know nothing but Vitthal and at last become Vitthal, their sense of a separate self dissolving. He then turns to the kirtan itself: amid the surge of cymbals and drums, love overflows, every wicked thought burns away, and the singing becomes its own samadhi. The power of it reaches even the faithless, whose devotion stirs at hearing Hari's story, while Panduranga is said to stand present in the very joy of the chant. The closing claim is deliberately steep: this happiness surpasses what even Brahma and the high gods can reach.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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