Ecstasy, plunder the free treasure
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
घ्या रे लुटी प्रेम सुख । फेडा आजि धणी । चुकला तो मुकला । जाली वेरझार हाणी ॥1॥
घाला घातला वैकुंठीं । करूनियां जीवें साटी । पुरविली पाठी । वैष्णवीं काळाची ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघें आणिलें अंबर । विठोसहित तेथें धुर । भेदूनि जिव्हार । नामबाणीं धरियेला ॥2॥
संचित प्रारब्ध क्रियमाण । अवघीं जालीं गहन । केलीं पापपुण्यें । देशधडी बापुडीं ॥3॥
आनंदें गर्जती निर्भर । घोष करिती निरंतर । कांपती असुर । वीर कवणा नांगवती॥4॥
जें दुर्लभ ब्रह्मादिकां । आजि सांपडलें फुका । घ्या रे ह्मणे तुका । सावचित्त होउनी ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Come, plunder the treasure of love and bliss. Satisfy your longing today. Whoever misses this chance has lost it, and the opportunity will not return. A leap has been taken straight into Vaikuntha, staking one's very life. The Vaishnavas have chased away death. The entire sky has been brought down, with Vitthal at its center. He has been captured by the arrows of the Name piercing His very core. Past karma, destiny, and present actions have all been dissolved. Merit and sin have been scattered like refugees. The devoted ones roar with boundless joy, their clamor unceasing. The demons tremble, for these warriors are unconquerable. What is unattainable even for Brahma and the gods has today been found for free. Says Tuka, take it now with full awareness.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Come, plunder the joy of love. Fill your longing today. Whoever misses it has lost it; the round of coming and going is sheer loss. A raid has been made on Vaikuntha, staking life itself. The Vaishnavas have chased death from behind. The whole sky has been brought down, with Vitthal at its heart, pierced to the core and held fast by the arrows of the Name. Stored karma, ripened fate, and present deeds have all grown faint. Sin and merit have been scattered like driven refugees. The devotees roar, brimming over, their shout never stopping. The demons tremble; who can subdue these warriors? What is hard for even Brahma and the gods is found today for free. Tuka says: take it, take it, with all your wits about you.
What it means
Tukaram cries out like a herald at a sacking, telling everyone to seize the treasure of divine love before the moment passes. The whole poem is a war-image: the Vaishnavas have staked their lives and stormed Vaikuntha, driven off death, and pulled heaven and Vitthal himself down to earth, capturing God with the arrows of his own Name. In that storm the threefold weight of karma, the stored, the ripened, and the present, dissolves, and sin and merit are scattered like refugees. The point is that what even Brahma and the gods can barely reach is here being given away for nothing to anyone who sings the Name. So he urges the listener not to drift through the cycle of birth and death missing it, but to grab this free grace wide awake.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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