Fugadi, the whirl that breaks the bond
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
फुगडी फू फुगडी घालितां उघडी राहे । लाज सांडोनि एक एकी पाहे ॥१॥
फुगडी गे अवघें मोडी गे । तरीच गोडी गे संसार तोडी गे ॥ध्रु.॥
मागें जें शिकली होतीस पोटीं । तें चि विचारूनि आतां उच्चारी ओठीं ॥२॥
त्रिगुणांची वेणी तुझे उडते पाठीं । सावरूनि धरी घाली मूळबंदीं गांठी ॥३॥
आगळें पाउल जिंके एकाएक । पावसी मान हे मानवती तिन्ही लोक ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे तुजमजमध्यें एक भाव । सम तुकें बार घेऊं पावों उंच ठाव ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Fugadi, fu! Fugadi! When you play it openly, all is laid bare. Cast off shame and look each other straight in the eye. Fugadi breaks everything, breaks it all; only then does the sweetness come; only then is the bond of worldly life truly severed. Whatever you learned before and stored in your belly, bring it now to your lips and speak it aloud. The braid of the three gunas flies loose behind you; gather it up and tie it firm at the mulabandha, the root-lock. The one who takes the bolder step wins outright and earns the respect of all three worlds. Says Tuka, let there be one bhava between you and me; with equal and balanced steps, let us together reach the highest place.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Fugadi, fu! When you whirl the fugadi out in the open, everything is laid bare; cast off shame, and look each other straight in the eye. The fugadi breaks everything, breaks it all to pieces, and only then does the sweetness come, only then is the knot of worldly life cut through. Whatever you learned long ago and stored away inside, bring it now to your lips and say it aloud. The braid of the three gunas flies loose behind you; gather it up and tie it tight at the root-lock. Whoever takes the bolder step wins outright and earns the honor of all three worlds. Tuka says: let there be one single feeling between you and me, and balanced, matched together, we will rise to the high place.
What it means
Tukaram turns the fugadi, the women's spinning game where two clasp hands and whirl until dizzy, into an image of ecstatic devotion. The whirl strips away shame and pretense, breaks the ordinary world to pieces, and only in that breaking does the sweetness come and the bond of samsara snap. He weaves in the language of yoga, the loosened braid of the three gunas tied off at the root-lock, the mulabandha, so the spinning is also a discipline. And the goal is union: one shared feeling between the two players, perfectly matched, lifting both to the highest place. The game is the path: let go, whirl, break, and rise together.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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