Ecstasy, the spring that never dries
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुकाळ हा दिवसरजनी । नीत धणी नवी च ॥1॥
करुण सेवूं नानापरी । राहे उरी गोडीनें ॥ध्रु.॥
सरे ऐसा नाहीं झरा। पंक्ती करा समवेत ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बरवा पान्हा । कान्हाबाई माउलीचा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
There is abundance day and night, always fresh and ever satisfying. We serve this nectar in countless ways, and still sweetness remains. This spring never runs dry; come, gather in rows and share it together. Says Tuka, the motherly love of Kanhabai flows beautifully.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It is harvest day and night. The fill of it is always new. We drink this tenderness in many ways. Still sweetness stays behind. There is no spring that runs dry like this one. Come, gather in a row together. Tuka says: the milk flows sweetly, the milk of mother Kanhabai.
What it means
Tukaram is celebrating an abundance that never wears thin: day and night the harvest is full, and however much you take, it is always fresh and the sweetness keeps remaining. He invites others to come and drink it together, sitting in rows like children fed in turn. The closing image makes the source plain: this is mother's milk, the flowing love of Krishna as a nursing mother. The point is that God's grace is not a fixed ration but a spring that cannot be emptied.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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