Ecstasy, the taste of Brahman
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विषयीं विसर पडिला निःशेष । अंगीं ब्रह्मरस ठसावला ॥1॥
लाभाचिया सोसें पुढें चाली मना । धनाचा कृपणा लोभ जैसा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे गंगासागरसंगमीं । अवघ्या जाल्या ऊमिन एकमय ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Forgetfulness of sense-objects has become complete. The essence of Brahman has settled deep within my being. Driven by the eagerness of gain, the mind presses forward, like a miser's craving for wealth. Says Tuka, at the meeting of the Ganga and the sea, all the waves have become one.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Forgetting of the sense-objects has become complete. The essence of Brahman has set firm within my body. Driven by the hunger for this gain, my mind presses on ahead, the way a miser craves more wealth. Tuka says: at the meeting of the Ganga and the sea, all the waves have become one.
What it means
Tukaram describes being so filled with God that the outer world drops away. He has forgotten the objects of the senses entirely, and the taste of Brahman has set hard inside him like something cast and fixed. Strikingly, he keeps the language of greed: his mind still rushes forward hungry for more of this, the way a miser can never have enough money, except here the craving is for God. The final image seals it. As the river loses itself where it joins the sea and the separate waves become one water, his separateness has merged into the one reality.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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