Ecstasy, witnessing one's own death
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आपुलें मरण पाहिलें म्यां डोळां । तो जाला सोहळा अनुपम्य ॥1॥
आनंदे दाटलीं तिन्ही त्रिभुवनें । सर्वात्मकपणें भोग जाला ॥ध्रु.॥
एकदेशीं होतों अहंकारें आथिला । त्याच्या त्यागें जाला सुकाळ हा ॥2॥
फिटलें सुतक जन्ममरणाचें । मी माझ्या संकोचें दुरी जालों ॥3॥
नारायणें दिला वस्तीस ठाव । ठेवूनियां भाव ठेलों पायीं ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे दिलें उमटूनि जगीं । घेतलें तें अंगीं लावूनियां ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I witnessed my own death with my own eyes, and it became a celebration beyond compare. All three worlds were flooded with bliss; through the realization of being the Self of all, that joy was experienced. I was confined to one corner by the ego; by renouncing it, this abundance was born. The impurity of birth and death has been wiped clean; through the release of 'I' and 'mine,' all separation has ended. Narayana granted me a dwelling place; I laid my devotion at His feet and remained. Says Tuka, what was given has been stamped upon the world; what was received has been absorbed into my very being.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I watched my own death with my own eyes, and it became a joy beyond compare. All three worlds were flooded with bliss; being the Self of all, I knew that delight. I had been shut into one small corner by the ego; by giving it up, this abundance was born. The defilement of birth and death is wiped away; with my 'I' and 'mine' let go, I have moved far from all separation. Narayana gave me a place to dwell; I laid my whole heart at His feet and stayed. Tuka says: what was given is stamped upon the world, and what I received I have pressed into my very being.
What it means
Tukaram speaks from the far side of the ego's death, which he experienced not as loss but as an incomparable celebration. Once the ego shut him into a narrow corner; surrendering it opened him into the bliss of being the Self of all, filling the three worlds. With 'I' and 'mine' released, the very impurity of birth and death falls away and separation ends. The state is not abstract: Narayana has given him a dwelling, and he has settled there with his whole heart at God's feet, what he received now absorbed into his being and shining out into the world.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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