Ecstasy, seize the boundless joy now
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तिळ एक अर्ध राई । सीतबुंद पावे काई । तया सुखा नाहीं । अंतपार पाहतां ॥1॥
ह्मणउनी करा लाहो । नका मागें पुढें पाहों । अवघ्यामध्यें आहों । सावचित्त तों ॥ध्रु.॥
तीथॉ न येती तुळणी । आजिया सुखाची धणी । जे कासी गयेहुनी । जीं आगळीं असती ॥3॥
येथें धरी लाज । वर्ण अभिमान काज । नाडला सहज । तुका ह्मणे तो येथें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A sesame seed, half a mustard grain, a single drop of dew: even that much of this bliss, when tasted, proves boundless. Therefore seize this opportunity. Do not look ahead or behind; act while you remain fully aware. No pilgrimage compares to the fullness of this present joy, which surpasses even Kashi and Gaya. Says Tuka, one who clings to shame, caste-pride, or self-importance here is the one who is naturally lost.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A single sesame seed, half a mustard grain, one drop of dew: even that little of this bliss, once tasted, has no end. So seize the chance. Do not look behind you or ahead; act while you are still fully awake to it. We are all in the middle of it now. No pilgrimage can match the fullness of today's joy, which is greater even than Kashi and Gaya. Tuka says: whoever clings here to shame, to caste-pride, or to self-importance is the one who is simply lost.
What it means
Tukaram says the bliss of devotion is boundless from the very first taste, however tiny that taste seems. Because it is so vast and so present, he urges the hearer to grab it now, not to drift backward into the past or forward into worry but to act while fully aware. He ranks this living joy above the great pilgrimage sites, Kashi and Gaya, since they are distant and this is at hand. The warning lands on what blocks it: shame, pride in caste, and self-importance. The one who hugs those here, in the open invitation of the kirtan, loses the very thing offered to everyone.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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