Grace as inheritance, the easy feast
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आम्ही आइते जेवणार । न लगे सोसावे डोंगर । सुखाचा वेव्हार । तेणें चि वाढलें ॥1॥
ठेवा जोडला मिरासी । ठाव जाला पायांपासी । नव्हे आणिकांसी । रीघ तेथें यावया ॥ध्रु.॥
बळी दिला जीवभाव । नेणें आणिकांचे नांव । धरिला एक भाव । तो विश्वास फळला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जालों बळी । आह्मी निकट जवळी । बोलिलों तें पाळीं । वचन स्वामी आमचें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We are the ones who feast on what is ready; we need not endure mountains of toil. The transaction of joy has only increased by that. An inheritance has been secured, a place at His feet has been won, where none else may enter. We have offered up our very life-breath and know no other name. We held to one faith alone, and that trust has borne fruit. Says Tuka, we have made our offering. We are close, right beside Him. Our Lord keeps the promise He gave us.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We are the ones who eat what is already cooked. We do not have to cross mountains of toil. The dealing of joy has only grown by that. An inheritance has been won, a place secured at His feet, where no one else can push in. We have given up our very life-breath; we know no other name. We held to one faith alone, and that trust has borne fruit. Tuka says: we have made our offering. We are close, right beside Him. Our Lord keeps the word He gave us.
What it means
Tukaram describes the way of devotion as effortless inheritance, not earned by harsh labor. He is one who simply eats the meal already prepared, not one who must climb mountains of austerity, and joy keeps increasing because of that ease. The price was a different kind: he handed over his own life-breath and his attention, refusing every other name. That single-pointed trust is what bore fruit and won him a fixed place at the feet where no rival can crowd in. The poem ends in confidence that the Lord keeps his promise to those who come this near.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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