Ecstasy, liberation tied in the bundle
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
साकरेचें नाम घेतां कळे गोडी । तैसी आह्मां जोडी वैष्णवांची ॥1॥
मोक्ष गांठी असे ठेविला बांधोनी । सोस तो भजनीं आवडीचा ॥ध्रु.॥
भोजनाची चिंता माय वाहे बाळा । आह्मांसि तरी खेळावरि चित्त ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी देहउपकारें । गाऊं निरंतर नाचों लागों ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even by just saying the name 'sugar,' one can recall its sweetness. Such is the gain we find in the company of Vaishnavas. Liberation lies tied up and ready in our bundle, yet our real longing is for the delight of devotion itself. A mother worries about feeding her child, but we children care only for play. Says Tuka, as a service to this body, we sing, dance, and devote ourselves ceaselessly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Just saying the word 'sugar' lets you taste its sweetness; such is the gain we have in the company of Vaishnavas. Liberation lies tied and ready in our bundle, but our real longing is for the joy of devotion. A mother frets over feeding her child, but our minds are set only on play. Tuka says: as a use for this body, we sing without stopping and we fall to dancing.
What it means
Tukaram says the company of the devotees is so full that even speaking of it carries its sweetness, the way the word sugar already brings the taste to mind. Liberation, the thing others strive for, is already tied up and waiting in his bundle, so he no longer hungers for it; his whole longing is for the delight of devotion itself. Like children absorbed in play while the mother worries about their meals, the devotees leave the matter of release to God and care only for the singing and dancing. He ends by naming the body's true purpose: to sing the Name ceaselessly and to dance.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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