Ecstasy, fearless in God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मां भय धाक कोणाचा रे पाहें । काळ मशक काय मानव हे ॥1॥
आह्मांसी ते काय चिंता या पोटाची । माउली आमुची पांडुरंग ॥ध्रु.॥
काय करावी हे कोणाची मान्यता । करितां अनंता कोण वारी ॥2॥
नाहीं शीण आह्मां जालें कवतुक । पुनीत हे लोक करावया ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे खातों आनंदाचे लाडू । नका चरफडूं घ्या रे तुह्मी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whom should we fear? What is Death to us but a mosquito? What are mere mortals to us? What worry do we have about our bellies? Panduranga is our Mother. Whose approval do we need? When the Infinite One blesses us, who can stop us? We feel no weariness; it has all become a delight, for we are here to purify these people. Says Tuka, we feast on the sweets of bliss. Stop fretting and take your share.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whom should we fear? What is Death to us but a mosquito? What are mere men? Why should we worry about this belly? Panduranga is our Mother. Whose approval do we need? When the Infinite One acts, who can stop it? We feel no weariness; it has all become play, for we are here to make these people pure. Tuka says: we are eating the sweets of bliss. Stop fretting; come and take your share.
What it means
Tukaram speaks from a state where every ordinary fear has dropped away. Death, other people, even the daily anxiety over food, none of it can touch one whose Mother is Panduranga. He needs no one's approval, because when the Infinite One is at work no one can obstruct it. He reframes his own labor as effortless play, undertaken not for himself but to purify those around him. The last line turns to the listener with an open hand: he is feasting on joy, so stop your anxious fretting and come share in it.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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