Ecstasy, the vast held in the small
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वेद जया गाती । आह्मां तयाची संगति ॥1॥
नाम धरियेलें कंठीं । अवघा सांटविला पोटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
ॐकाराचें बीज । हातीं आमुचे तें निज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बहु मोटें । अणुरणियां धाकुटें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He whom the Vedas praise, we have His company. His name is held at our throat; we have stored Him entirely within us. The seed of Om is in our hands; it is our very own. Says Tuka, He is immeasurably vast, yet smaller than the smallest atom.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The one whom the Vedas sing, His company is ours. We have held His name in our throat; we have stored the whole of Him inside us. The seed of Om is in our hand; it is our very own. Tuka says: He is greater than the greatest, and smaller than the smallest atom.
What it means
Tukaram claims an intimacy with God that the scriptures only circle from outside. The Vedas can sing of Him, but the devotee carries Him: the Name lodged in the throat, the whole of Him kept within, the seed-sound Om resting in the hand like something owned. The closing line names the paradox that makes this possible: the same God who is larger than everything is also smaller than the smallest atom, so He can be held in a throat and a heart. Devotion, Tuka says, reaches by love what learning approaches only by description.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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