Ecstasy, purity undone
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बहु देवा बरें जालें । नसतें गेलें सोंवळें ॥1॥
धोवटाशीं पडिली गांठी । जगजेठीप्रसादें ॥ध्रु.॥
गादल्याचा जाला जाडा । गेली पीडा विकल्प ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वरावरी । निर्मळ करी निर्मळा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It is truly well, O God, that false notions of ritual purity have departed. By the grace of the Lord of the world, we have encountered the Washerman of souls. The thick quilt of doubt has been thinned out, and the pain of inner conflict is gone. Says Tuka, layer by layer, the Pure One purifies what is already pure.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It is good, O God, that all these things are gone. My false notions of ritual purity have left me. By the grace of the Lord of the world, I have met the Washerman of souls. The thick quilt of my doubt has been thinned out. The pain of my inner conflict is gone. Tuka says: layer by layer, the Pure One cleans what is already pure.
What it means
Tukaram is rejoicing that his anxious bookkeeping about ritual purity has fallen away. He names God as a washerman, the very caste that purity rules would push to the margin, and says it is that washer of souls who has cleaned him. The thick quilt of doubt and the ache of being divided against himself are both gone. The closing image presses the point: God scrubs the soul layer after layer, even though the soul was never truly soiled. The purity rules were measuring a stain that was not there.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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