Ecstasy, the sweet last day
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
याजसाटीं केला होता आटाहास्ये । शेवटाचा दिस गोड व्हावा ॥1॥
आतां नििश्चतीनें पावलों विसांवा । खुंटलिया धांवा तृष्णेचिया ॥ध्रु.॥
कवतुक वाटे जालिया वेचाचें । नांव मंगळाचें तेणें गुणें ॥2॥
ह्मणे मुक्ति परिणिली नोवरी । आतां दिवस चारी खेळीमेळीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
For this very end all the toil was undertaken: that the last day might be sweet. Now, with certainty, I have found rest, for the race of craving has come to a halt. Looking back, even the cost of it all seems a delight, and so it earns the name of blessing. Says Tuka, liberation has been wedded like a bride. Now let the remaining days be spent in joyful celebration.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It was for this that all the effort was made: that the last day should be sweet. Now, with certainty, I have reached rest. The running of craving has stopped. Looking back, even the cost of it all feels like a delight; for that reason it earns the name of blessing. Tuka says: liberation has been wedded like a bride. Now let the few days that remain be spent in play and good company.
What it means
Tukaram looks back over a whole life of striving and says it was all aimed at one thing: that the end should be sweet. He has arrived at that rest, and the thirst that kept him running has finally halted. From here even the price he paid looks like a gift, so he calls the whole thing a blessing. He pictures liberation as a marriage already completed, and asks only that the days still left be lived lightly, in joy and company.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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