Ecstasy, Hari's old companions
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मी हरिचे सवंगडे जुने ठायींचे वेडे बागडे । हातीं धरुनी कडे पाठीसवें वागविलों ॥1॥
ह्मणोनि भिन्न भेद नाहीं देवा आह्मां एकदेहीं । नाहीं जालों कहीं एका एक वेगळे ॥ध्रु.॥
निद्रा करितां होतों पायीं सवें चि लंका घेतली तई । वान्नरें गोवळ गाई सवें चारित फिरतसों ॥2॥
आह्मां नामाचें चिंतन राम कृष्ण नारायण। तुका ह्मणे क्षण खातां जेवितां न विसंभों ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We are Hari's old companions, His original playful comrades. He held our hands and carried us on His back. Therefore there is no difference or division between God and us; we share one body. We have never at any time been separate from each other. When we slept at His feet, we were with Him when Lanka was conquered. As monkeys and cowherds, we roamed with Him, grazing the cattle. Our contemplation is the Name: Rama, Krishna, Narayana. Says Tuka, not for a single moment, eating or dining, do we forget Him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We are Hari's old friends, His playmates from the beginning, His simple fools. He took our hands and carried us on His back. So there is no division, no difference, between God and us. We are one body. We have never once been separate from each other. When we slept at His feet, we were with Him when Lanka was taken. As monkeys and as cowherds we roamed beside Him, grazing the cattle. Our one thought is the Name: Rama, Krishna, Narayana. Tuka says: not for a single moment, eating or dining, do we forget Him.
What it means
Tukaram speaks from inside a felt oneness with God, claiming an old and easy companionship rather than a distant worship. Calling themselves Hari's longtime playmates and simple fools, the devotees describe a closeness so complete that there is no real separation left between God and them; they are, he says, one body that has never once been apart. He reaches back through Hari's own stories to show how far that companionship runs: present as the monkey army when Lanka was conquered with Rama, present as the cowherd boys grazing cattle with Krishna. The single thread holding it all is the Name, Rama, Krishna, Narayana, repeated through every story and every age. The closing line brings it down to the ordinary present: not even for a moment, not even while eating, do they let God slip out of mind.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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