Joy at the saints' arrival, past merit ripening
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आले संत पाय ठेविती मस्तकीं । येहीं उभयलोकीं सरता केलों ॥1॥
वंदीन पाउलें लोळेन चरणीं । आजि इच्छाधणी फिटईल ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघीं पूर्व पुण्यें जालीं सानुकूळ । अवघें चि मंगळ संतभेटी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कृतकृत्य जालों देवा । नेणें परि सेवा डोळां देखें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The saints have come and placed their feet upon my head; they have made me fulfilled in both worlds. I will bow at their feet and roll upon the ground at their soles; today the longing of my heart will be satisfied. All the merit of past lives has turned favorable; the meeting with the saints is wholly auspicious. Says Tuka, I have become blessed, O God. I know not how to serve, yet let my eyes behold this grace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The saints have come and set their feet upon my head; they have made me complete in both worlds. I will bow at their feet and roll on the ground at their soles; today the longing of my heart will be filled. All the merit of my past lives has turned in my favor; the meeting with the saints is wholly blessed. Tuka says: I have become fulfilled, O God. I do not know how to serve, yet let my eyes behold this grace.
What it means
Tukaram treats the visit of the saints as the very thing he has been waiting for, and ranks it as high as meeting God. To have their feet laid on his head completes him in this world and the next, so he throws himself down at their soles. He reads the encounter as the fruit of merit gathered across past lives now ripening at once, which is why it feels wholly auspicious. He confesses he does not even know how to serve them properly. The one thing he asks is to keep this grace in sight, because in this tradition the company of the saints is itself the doorway to God.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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