Ecstasy, the thorny path made smooth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पावलों पावलों । देवा पावलों रे ॥१॥
बरवें संचित होतें तैसें जालें रें । आतां काय बोलों रे ॥२॥
सोज्ज्वळ कंटकवाटा भावें करूं गेलों रे । तुका म्हणे करूनि वेगळा केलों रे ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have arrived, I have arrived, O God, I have arrived. My past merit was good, and so it has come to pass; what more can I say? The thorny path has become smooth through devotion. Says Tuka, having been brought through it, I have been set apart and made free.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have arrived, I have arrived, O God, I have arrived. My past store of merit was good, and so it has turned out this way; what more can I say now? I set out in love to walk the bright thorny road. Tuka says: he carried me through it and set me apart.
What it means
Tukaram cries out that he has reached the goal, and then refuses to take the credit. He traces the arrival back to good merit gathered long before, so the reaching feels less like an achievement than a gift come due, leaving him with nothing more to say. He recalls setting out in devotion onto a path that was at once shining and full of thorns. The closing line gives the resolution: God himself brought him through the thorns and set him apart, made free, so the whole journey is finally God's doing and not his own.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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