Ecstasy, drink the whole universe
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संकोचोनि काय जालासी लहान । घेई अपोशण ब्रह्मांडाचें ॥1॥
करोनि पारणें आंचवें संसारा । उशीर उशिरा लावूं नको ॥ध्रु.॥
घरकुलानें होता पडिला अंधार । तेणें केलें फार कासावीस ॥2॥
झुगारूनि दुरी लपविलें काखे । तुका ह्मणे वाखे कौतुकाचे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why have you contracted and made yourself small? Drink up the entire universe in one draft. Having broken your fast, rinse out this worldly life. Do not delay any longer. The darkness of this small dwelling had caused great distress. Fling it far away, hide it under your arm. Says Tuka, these are the wonders of divine play.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why have you shrunk and made yourself small? Drink the whole universe in one mouthful. Break your fast on it, then rinse this worldly life away. Do not put it off any longer. The darkness of this little house had made you very anxious. Fling it far, hide it under your arm. Tuka says: these are the wonders of divine play.
What it means
Tukaram turns on the soul that has cramped itself into smallness and dares it to its true size. Instead of cowering, swallow the entire universe in a single draft and use it to break a long fast, then rinse the whole worldly life out of your mouth, and do it now, without delay. The little dwelling whose darkness kept you anxious is the narrow self; he says throw it away, tuck it aside, be done with it. What looks like an impossible boast is really the playful largeness of God, in whom such reversals are wonders.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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