Ecstasy, the boats of the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धरिल्या देहाचें सार्थक करीन । आनंदें भरीन तिन्ही लोक ॥1॥
लावीन निशान जावया वैकुंठा । माजवीन पेठा कीर्तनाच्या॥ध्रु.॥
नामाचिया नौका करीन सहस्रवरि । नावाडा श्रीहरि पांडुरंग ॥2॥
भाविक हो येथें धरा रे आवांका । ह्मणे दास तुका शुद्धयाति ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I will make this body's life worthwhile and fill the three worlds with bliss. I will plant the banner that leads to Vaikuntha and open the marketplace of kirtan. I will build a thousand boats of the Name, with Shrihari Panduranga as the boatman. Come, O faithful ones, make room aboard. Says Tuka, of pure birth, I call you.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I will make this body I have been given count for something; I will fill all three worlds with joy. I will raise the banner for the road to Vaikuntha; I will set up a thriving market of kirtan. I will build a thousand boats out of the Name, with Shrihari Panduranga as the boatman. Faithful ones, come, make room and climb aboard. Tuka, the servant, says: I am calling you, I of pure lineage.
What it means
Tukaram turns his own life into a public mission and announces it like a herald. He will not waste the body he was given; he will flood the three worlds with bliss, plant the flag on the road to Vaikuntha, and open a bustling marketplace where the only goods are kirtan. The boldest image is the rescue fleet: a thousand boats made of the Name, with God himself as the boatman, and an open call for everyone faithful to climb in. It is the ecstasy of a saint who wants not private liberation but a crossing wide enough to carry the crowd.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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