The treasure found, the ancestral Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांपडलें जुनें । आमुच्या वडिलांचें ठेवणें । केली नारायणें । कृपा पुण्यें पूवाअचिया ॥1॥
सुखें आनंदरूप आतां । आह्मी आहों याकरितां । निवारली चिंता । देणें घेणें चुकलें ॥ध्रु.॥
जालें भांडवल घरिंचें । अमुप नाम विठ्ठलाचें । सुकृत भावाचें । हें तयानें दाविलें ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे फिटला । पांग नाहीं बोलायाला। चाड दुसरी विठ्ठ्ला । वांचूनियां आणीक ॥3॥ ॥37॥
काम क्रोध अहंकार नको देहीं । आशा तृष्णा माया लज्जा चिंता कांहीं ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The old heirloom of our ancestors has been recovered. Narayana has shown His grace through the merit of past lives. We are now content in bliss because of this. All worry has ceased; the cycle of debt is over. The household wealth is the priceless Name of Vitthal. My brother's devotion has revealed its true worth. Says Tukya-bandhu, the obligation is discharged. There is nothing more to say, and no other desire besides Vitthal.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
An old heirloom of our ancestors has been recovered. Narayana showed His grace through merit earned in past lives. We live now as bliss itself because of this. Worry is gone; the giving and taking is finished. The household wealth is the priceless Name of Vitthal. My brother's devotion has shown its true worth. Tukya-bandhu says: the obligation is discharged. There is nothing more to say, and no desire left except Vitthal.
What it means
The treasure is now named outright: it is the Name of Vitthal, an old family inheritance that was lost and has been found again. Narayana's grace, earned by past merit, is what restored it, so the wealth is both ancestral and given. The end of giving and taking closes the long debt-quarrel of the earlier poems: the account is settled, worry is over. Devotion, the brother's bhava, is what revealed the Name's real value, which is beyond price. The closing line empties out every other want, leaving Vitthal alone as both the wealth and the only thing still desired.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
More in this theme →