Ecstasy, the boat on the rising tide
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लागलें भरतें । ब्रह्मानंदाचें वरतें ॥1॥
जाला हरिनामाचा तारा । सीड लागलें फरारा ॥ध्रु.॥
बैसोनि सकळ । बाळ चालिले गोपाळ ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वाट । बरवी सांपडली नीट ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The rising tide of Brahman's bliss has swelled. The star of Hari's Name has appeared, and the sails are filled with wind. All the children, the cowherd boys, have taken their seats aboard. Says Tuka, the right path has been found, straight and true.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The tide has come in, the rising tide of the bliss of Brahman. The star of Hari's Name has appeared; the sail has caught the wind and runs. All of them sit aboard; the cowherd boys, the children, have set off. Tuka says: the road has been found, good and straight.
What it means
Tukaram turns the whole scene into a voyage. The bliss of Brahman is a flood tide that lifts the boat, the Name of Hari is the guiding star, and the wind that fills the sail and carries it forward is devotion itself. The cowherd boys, the simple children of Krishna, climb aboard together, so the crossing is shared and easy, not solitary toil. The poem ends with the assurance that the right course has been located, straight and sure; once the tide, the star, and the wind are given, the soul has only to sit aboard and be carried home.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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