Ecstasy, Govinda fills everything
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
व्यापिलें सर्वत्र । बाहेरी भीतरीं अंत ॥1॥
ऐसें गोविंदें गोविलें । बोलें न वजाये बोलिले ॥ध्रु.॥
संचिताची होळी । करूनि जीव घेतला बळी ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे नाहीं । आतां संसारा उरी कांहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Govinda has pervaded everything, inside and out, to the very end. He has ensnared me so completely that words fail; what can be spoken has been spoken. He made a bonfire of my past karma and claimed my jiva as an offering. Says Tuka's brother, now nothing of worldly life remains.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He fills everything, outside and inside, to the very end. Govinda has bound me so completely that speech fails; what could be said has been said. He set fire to my stored-up karma and took my soul as his offering. Tuka's brother says: now nothing of worldly life is left.
What it means
Again in the brother's voice, this poem describes being wholly taken over by God. Govinda is felt to pervade everything, inside and out, with no remainder, and the experience binds the speaker so fully that words give out. He pictures God burning up his accumulated karma in a single fire and claiming his very life as a sacrifice. The point he lands is the completeness of it: with the past consumed and the self surrendered, nothing of worldly existence remains to hold him.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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