Ecstasy, the Father who knows before you ask
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
प्रेमभेटी आिंळगण । मग चरण वंदावे ॥1॥
ऐसामाझा भोळा बाप । हरी ताप कवळोनि ॥ध्रु.॥
न संगतां सीण भाग। पांडुरंग जाणतसे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कृपावंतें । द्यावें, भातें न मागतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
First comes the embrace of love, then the bowing at His feet. Such is my simple and tender Father; Hari draws me close and removes all suffering. Without my saying a word of weariness or fatigue, Panduranga already knows. Says Tuka, the gracious Lord gives what is needed even before it is asked.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
First the embrace of love, then the bowing at his feet. Such is my simple, tender Father. Hari draws me close and takes away the heat of my pain. I need not speak of my weariness. Panduranga already knows it. Tuka says: the gracious Lord gives what is needed before it is even asked.
What it means
Tukaram describes how God meets him not with formality but with affection: the embrace of love comes first, and only then the bowing at the feet. He calls Vitthal his simple, tender Father, one who pulls him close and lifts away the heat of his suffering. The heart of it is that he does not have to report his exhaustion, because Panduranga already knows what is inside him. The closing line lands the claim: this grace runs ahead of need, giving before the asking even begins.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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