Faith, the fortunate moment
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बरवी हे वेळ सांपडली संधि । साहए जाली बुिद्ध संचितासी ॥1॥
येणें पंथें माझीं चालिलीं पाउलें । दरुषण जालें संतां पायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
त्रासिलें दरिद्रें दोषा जाला खंड । त्या चि काळें पिंड पुनीत जाला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाला अवघा व्यापार । आली वेरझार फळासी हे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A fine moment and a fortunate chance have arrived. Wisdom has aligned with destiny. My feet have walked this path, and I have had the vision of the saints' feet. Poverty and its afflictions have been severed, and in that very moment this body was purified. Says Tuka, the entire transaction is complete, and this wandering has borne its fruit.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A good moment has come, a fortunate chance; my stored-up destiny has turned to my aid. My feet have walked this path, and I have had the sight of the saints' feet. Poverty has been driven off, my sins are cut through, and in that very moment this body was made pure. Tuka says: the whole transaction is done, and this long going to and fro has borne its fruit.
What it means
Tukaram sees a single fortunate moment in which his accumulated past, his sanchita, finally works for him instead of against him. Walking the pilgrim path and gaining the sight of the saints does the work: poverty is dismissed, sin is severed, the body itself is purified at once. He uses the language of trade, transaction and fruit, to say the whole long account is now settled. The endless coming and going of births and journeys has at last paid off in this meeting.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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