Ecstasy, desire turned to worship
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐसिया संपत्ती आह्मां संवसारी । भोगाचिया परि काय सांगों ॥1॥
काम तो कामना भोगीतसे देवा । आिंळगणें हेवा चरण चुंबीं ॥ध्रु.॥
शांतीच्या संयोगें निरसला ताप । दुसरें तें पाप भेदबुिद्ध ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पाहें तिकडे सारिखें । आपुलें पारिखें निरसलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How can I describe the wealth of this household and the nature of its enjoyments? O God, desire itself becomes devotion; I embrace Your feet and kiss them with longing. Through union with peace, all suffering has dissolved. The bheda-buddhi alone is the remaining blemish. Says Tuka, when I look in any direction, all is the same. The distinction between self and other has been erased.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How can I tell the wealth of this household and how its joys are tasted? O God, desire itself becomes longing for You; I hold Your feet and kiss them with love. Through union with peace, all the burning has dissolved. The one sin left is the mind that still sees difference. Tuka says: wherever I look, all is the same. The line between mine and another's has been wiped away.
What it means
Tukaram reports the strange riches of a life given to God, where the very faculties that once chased the world now serve devotion. Desire has not been killed but redirected: the same craving that pulled outward now reaches only for God's feet, which he embraces and kisses. Resting in peace, the old fever of suffering has dissolved, and he names the single remaining flaw with precision, the bheda-buddhi, the mind that still divides reality into separate things. As even that dissolves, he sees sameness in every direction, and the wall between self and other simply disappears.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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