The saints, fearlessness
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुह्मी पाय संतीं । माझे ठेवियेले चित्तीं ॥1॥
आतां बाधूं न सके काळ । जालीं विषम शीतळ ॥ध्रु.॥
भय नाहीं मनीं । देव वसे घरीं रानीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भये । आतां स्वप्नीं ही नये ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O saints, you have placed your feet upon my chitta. Now even Death cannot harm me, for all that was harsh has become cool. There is no fear left in my mind; God dwells in the home and in the wilderness alike. Says Tuka, fear does not come now, not even in a dream.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
O saints, you have set your feet on my heart. Now Death itself cannot harm me. Everything that was harsh has turned cool. There is no fear left in my mind. God lives in the house and in the wilderness alike. Tuka says: fear does not come now, not even in a dream.
What it means
Tukaram describes the change that the saints' grace works in him. Once their feet rest on his heart, the thing every person dreads, Death, loses its power to wound, and what was harsh and burning becomes cool and bearable. The reason fear is gone is that God is no longer confined to a temple or a safe place: God dwells equally in the home and in the wild emptiness, so there is nowhere left to be afraid. He pushes the claim to its limit, saying fear cannot reach him even in sleep.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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