Joy received, the veil lifted
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कां रे तुह्मीं ठेवा बहुतां निमित्तें । माझिया संचितें वोडवलें ॥1॥
भक्तिप्रेमगोडी बैसली जिव्हारीं । आनंद अंतरीं अंतरीं येणें झाला ॥ध्रु.॥
पुसिलें पडळ त्रिमिर विठ्ठलें । जग चि भरलें ब्रह्मानंदें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे केलों कामनेवेगळा । आवडी गोपाळावरी वसे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why do you attribute this to many causes? It was my own past merit that brought it about. The sweetness of devotion and love has settled deep within my core, and bliss has filled my innermost being. Vitthal has wiped away the veil of darkness; the whole world stands flooded with the joy of Brahman. Says Tuka, I have been freed from all desire; my love rests solely upon the cowherd Lord.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why do you blame this on so many causes? It was my own past merit that brought it about. The sweetness of love and devotion has settled deep in my heart. Joy has come, and filled me within. Vitthal has wiped away the veil of darkness. The whole world is flooded with the bliss of Brahman. Tuka says: I have been made free of all desire. My love rests only on Govinda, the cowherd.
What it means
Tukaram answers people who want to explain his joy by outside reasons, and he points back to his own ripened past instead. He describes the joy as something tasted, a sweetness lodged in the heart, not an idea he holds. Then he names what made it possible: Vitthal himself wiped away the film of darkness over his sight, and once that veil was gone the same world that looked ordinary now looks soaked in the bliss of Brahman. The release from desire is not a discipline he achieved but the natural result of his whole love settling on one place, the feet of Govinda.
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