Ecstasy, kirtan dissolves the body
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कीर्तन चांग कीर्तन चांग । होय अंग हरिरूप ॥1॥
प्रेमाछंदें नाचे डोले । हारपला देहभाव ॥ध्रु.॥
एकदेशीं जीवकळा। हा सकळां सोयरा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे उरला देव । गेला भेव त्या काळें ॥3॥
एका तुमच्या नामाविण । अवघा सीण कळतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
संकल्पाचे ओढी मन । पापपुण्य सम चि ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नारायणीं । पावो वाणी विसांवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Kirtan is beautiful, kirtan is beautiful; through it, the body becomes Hari's very form. Dancing and swaying in the ecstasy of love, body-identification dissolves. Even this one fragment of the jiva is intimate kin to all. Says Tuka, only God remains; fear departed in that very moment. Apart from Your Name alone, all else is felt as weariness. The mind is drawn along by its own intentions; merit and sin become equal. Says Tuka, may my voice find rest in Narayana.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Kirtan is good, kirtan is good; in it the body becomes Hari's own form. Dancing, swaying in the rapture of love, the sense of being a body is lost. This single spark of life is the close kin of all. Tuka says: only God remained; in that moment fear was gone. Apart from Your Name alone, everything is felt as weariness. The mind is dragged along by its own plans; then merit and sin are the same. Tuka says: let my voice come to rest in Narayana.
What it means
Tukaram is praising kirtan, the singing of God's name, as the thing that does the work. In the dancing and swaying of love the body itself takes on Hari's form and the gripping sense of "I am this body" falls away. From there he sees the small flame of life in him as kin to every other living thing. When only God is left, fear leaves with the self that feared. The second movement adds the contrast: everything that is not the Name feels like fatigue, and the mind, towed about by its own schemes, makes no real difference between good deeds and bad. So he asks only that his speech come to rest in Narayana.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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