Ecstasy, lords of the three worlds
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तिहीं त्रिभुवनीं । आह्मी वैभवाचे धनी ॥1॥
हातां आले घाव डाव । आमचा मायबाप देव ॥ध्रु.॥
काय त्रिभुवनीं बळ। अंगीं आमुच्या सकळ ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सत्ता । अवघी आमुची च आतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In all three worlds, we are the lords of true wealth. We have won the game; God Himself is our father and mother. Whatever strength exists in the three worlds is within us entirely. Says Tuka, all power now belongs to us alone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In all three worlds, we are the owners of the true riches. The game has fallen into our hands; God Himself is our mother and father. Whatever strength there is in the three worlds is all of it within our own body. Tuka says: now every power belongs to us alone.
What it means
Tukaram is in the high, exultant key that belonging wholly to God opens up. He claims lordship over the three worlds, but it is not his own greatness he is boasting of: the ground of the claim is that God is his mother and father, so the child of such a parent inherits everything. The winning move of the game is already in his hand, and the strength scattered through all the worlds he feels gathered into himself. The boast is really a confession of total dependence turned inside out, where having God is having all power.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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