Ecstasy, fed at the mother's lips
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मायबापाचिये भेटी । अवघ्या तुटी संकोचा ॥1॥
भोगिलें तें आहे सुख । खातां मुख मोकळें ॥ध्रु.॥
उत्तम तें बाळासाटीं । लावी ओठीं माउली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाली धणी । आनंद मनीं न समाये ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the meeting with one's divine parents, all inhibition falls away. The joy that has been tasted is real and present; the mouth is free as it eats. The mother offers the best to her child, placing it upon his lips. Says Tuka, full satisfaction has been reached, and the bliss within the mind overflows.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When you meet your mother and father, all shyness falls away. The joy that is tasted is real, and the mouth eats freely. The mother saves the best for her child and puts it to his lips. Tuka says: I have had my fill, and the bliss in my mind will not fit inside it.
What it means
Tukaram reaches for the plainest human picture of intimacy to describe meeting God. With one's own parents there is no holding back and no embarrassment, so he eats freely from the joy set before him. He sharpens it into the image of a mother feeding her child, choosing the best portion and placing it right on the child's lips, which is how God's grace comes to the devotee: directly, tenderly, without being earned. The closing line measures the result: he is completely satisfied, and the bliss is now too large to be contained in the mind that holds it.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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