Saints, a beggar in their village
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संतांचिये गांवीं प्रेमाचा सुकाळ । नाहीं तळमळ दुःखलेश ॥1॥
तेथें मी राहीन होऊनि याचक । घालितील भीक ते चि मज ॥ध्रु.॥
संतांचिये गांवीं वरो भांडवल । अवघा विठ्ठल धन वित्त ॥2॥
संतांचे भोजन अमृताचे पान । करिती कीर्तन सर्वकाळ ॥3॥
संतांचा उदीम उपदेशाची पेठ । प्रेमसुख साटीं घेती देती ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे तेथें आणिक नाहीं परी । ह्मणोनि भिकारी जालों त्यांचा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the village of the saints, love is in abundance. There is no trace of sorrow or suffering. I shall dwell there as a beggar; whatever alms they give, I shall accept. In the village of the saints, the chief treasure is Vitthal Himself, their only wealth and property. The saints' food is the drink of nectar. They sing kirtan at all hours. The saints' trade is the market of instruction. They buy and sell the joy of love. Says Tuka, there is nothing else there. That is why I have become their beggar.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the village of the saints, love is in plenty. There is no anguish, not a trace of sorrow. There I will live as a beggar; whatever alms they give, that is enough for me. In the village of the saints the chief wealth is Vitthal himself, their only riches. The saints' food is the drinking of nectar; they sing kirtan at every hour. The saints' trade is the marketplace of teaching; they buy and sell the joy of love. Tuka says: there is nothing else there, and so I have become their beggar.
What it means
Tukaram pictures the company of saints as a whole village with its own economy, and asks for the lowest place in it. Its abundance is love, and it holds no sorrow at all; its single wealth is Vitthal himself, so there is nothing else to possess. He chooses to enter not as a peer but as a beggar, content with whatever alms of grace the saints hand down. The images of nectar-food, ceaseless kirtan, and a market where the only goods traded are teaching and the joy of love describe a life wholly given over to God. Because that village deals in nothing but God, Tukaram wants nothing but to live there on its charity.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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