The blessing of the saints' sight
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धन्य दिवस आजि दरुषण संतांचें । नांदे तया घरीं दैवत पंढरीचें ॥1॥
धन्य पुण्य रूप कैसा जालें संसार । देव आणि भक्त दुजा नाहीं विचार ॥ध्रु.॥
धन्य पूर्व पुण्य वोडवलें निरुतें । संतांचें दर्शन जालें भाग्यें बहुतें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे धन्य आह्मां जोडली जोडी । संतांचे चरण आतां जीवें न सोडीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Blessed is this day, for we have beheld the saints. The deity of Pandhari dwells in their home. Blessed is the merit that has shaped this life; God and devotee are here, and no other consideration remains. Blessed is the ancient virtue that has surely ripened; by great good fortune we have gained the sight of saints. Says Tuka, blessed are we, for we have found this treasure. I will never let go of the saints' feet as long as I live.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Blessed is this day, for I have seen the saints. The deity of Pandhari dwells in their home. Blessed is the merit that shaped this life; here are God and devotee, and nothing else to think about. Blessed is the old virtue that has surely ripened; by great good fortune I have gained the sight of the saints. Tuka says: blessed are we, for we have found this treasure. I will not let go of the saints' feet as long as I live.
What it means
Tukaram is celebrating darshan, the sight of holy company, as itself the highest good fortune. The claim he keeps repeating is that the god of Pandharpur lives in the saints' own house; to be near them is already to be near God, with no distance left between deity and devotee. He reads his own luck backward, treating this meeting as merit and virtue from past lives finally come ripe. The poem ends with a vow, not a feeling: having found this treasure, he will hold the saints' feet for as long as he is alive. The point is that companionship with the realized is treated as the surest path, more reliable than effort he could mount on his own.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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