The meeting, going out to embrace Vitthal
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चला जाऊं रे सामोरे । पुढें भेटों विठ्ठल धुरे ॥1॥
तुका आनंदला मनीं । कैसा जातो लोटांगणीं ।
फेडावया धणी । प्रेमसुखाची आजि ॥ध्रु.॥
पुढें आले कृपावंत । मायबाप साधुसंत ॥2॥
आळंगिला बाहीं । ठेविला विठोबाचे पायीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Come, let us go forward to greet him. Let us meet Vitthal at the head of the procession. Says Tuka, my mind is overcome with bliss; see how he goes rolling on the ground in prostration, to satisfy at last the craving for this joy of love. The compassionate saints, our mother and father, have come ahead. They have embraced him in their arms and placed him at Vithoba's feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Come, let us go out to meet him. Let us meet Vitthal at the head of the procession. Tuka says: my mind is overcome with bliss; see how he goes, rolling on the ground in prostration, to satisfy at last the craving for this joy of love. The compassionate ones came ahead, the saints who are my mother and father. They took me in their arms and set me down at Vithoba's feet.
What it means
This is the moment of meeting that the earlier abhangas were waiting for. Tukaram runs out to greet Vitthal at the front of the procession and falls rolling to the ground in prostration, his long craving for the joy of love finally being fed. The saints, whom he calls his mother and father, go ahead of him and act as the bridge: they gather him up and place him at Vithoba's feet. The point is that the soul does not reach God alone; the saints carry it the last step into his presence.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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