Ecstasy, the inexhaustible feast
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
येथें आड कांहीं न साहे आणीक । प्रमाण तें एक हें चि जालें ॥1॥
गाऊं नाचों टाळी गाऊं गाऊं गीत छंदें । डोलवूं विनोदें अंग तेणें ॥ध्रु.॥
मथुनियां सार काढिलें बाहेरी । उपाधि ते येरी निवडिली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जगा लाविली शिराणी । सेवितां हे धणी होत नाहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Nothing else stands in the way here; this alone has become the final authority. Let us sing and dance, let us sing songs in joyful rhythm, swaying our bodies in delight. The essence has been churned out; all the dross has been separated and set aside. Says Tuka, a feast has been laid out for the world; no matter how much is tasted, the appetite is never satisfied.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Here nothing else can stand in the way. This one thing alone has become the proof. Let us sing and dance and clap; let us sing songs in rhythm; let us sway our bodies in joy. The essence has been churned out and brought into the open; the rest, the dross, has been set aside. Tuka says: a feast has been laid for the whole world. However much you eat of it, you are never full.
What it means
Tukaram describes the joy of the Name as a settled certainty: nothing else holds authority anymore, so singing and dancing simply pour out. The image of churning points to what devotion does, separating the essence from the dross, keeping the butter and discarding the rest. The feast laid out for the world is open to all, yet it works unlike ordinary food: the more it is tasted, the deeper the hunger for it grows. That endless appetite is itself the proof that this is the true food of the soul.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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