Union, the dissolved self
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लवण मेळवितां जळें । काय उरलें निराळें ॥1॥
तैसा समरस जालों । तुजमाजी हरपलों ॥ध्रु.॥
अिग्नकर्पुराच्या मेळीं । काय उरली काजळी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे होती । तुझी माझी एक ज्योती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When salt dissolves in water, nothing remains separate. In the same way, I have become one with You and have dissolved into You. When camphor meets fire, what residue of soot remains? Says Tuka, Your flame and mine have become one single light.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When salt is mixed into water, what is left standing apart? In the same way I have become one taste with You. I have vanished into You. When camphor meets the fire, what soot is left behind? Tuka says: Your flame and mine have become one single light.
What it means
Tukaram describes union with God through two images that leave nothing of the smaller thing behind. Salt poured into water keeps no separate body; it becomes the water. Camphor set to flame burns away whole and leaves not even soot. By these he tells what has happened to him: he has dissolved into God so completely that there is no longer a separate self standing apart. The final image makes it mutual and complete, two flames becoming one light; this is not the devotee admiring God from a distance but the very disappearance of the line between them.
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