Ecstasy, the longing fulfilled
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पुण्य फळलें बहुतां दिवसां । भाग्यउदयाचा ठसा । जाला सन्मुख तो कैसा । संतचरण पावलों ॥1॥
आजि फिटलें माझें कोडें । भवदुःखाचें सांकडें । कोंदाटलें पुढें । ब्रह्म सावळें॥ध्रु.॥
आलिंगणें संतांचिया । दिव्य जाली माझी काया । मस्तक पाया । वरी त्यांच्या ठेवितां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे धन्य झालों । सुखें संतांचिया धालों । लोटांगणीं आलों । पुढें भार देखोनी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The merit of many days has borne fruit. The mark of fortune's dawn has appeared. How beautifully has this come about: I have reached the feet of the saints. Today my longing is fulfilled and the stranglehold of worldly sorrow is broken. The dark and beautiful Brahman has gathered before me. By the embrace of the saints, my body has become divine. Placing my head upon their feet has transformed me. Says Tuka, I am blessed; I am sated by the joy of the saints. I have come and prostrated before them, seeing their splendor.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The good of many days has borne fruit. The mark of fortune's dawn has shown itself. How has this happened: I have reached the feet of the saints. Today my longing is answered. The chokehold of worldly sorrow is broken. The dark and beautiful Brahman stands gathered before me. By the saints' embrace, my body has become divine. I laid my head on their feet, and it changed me. Tuka says: I am blessed. I am full with the joy of the saints. I came and threw myself down before them, seeing their weight of glory.
What it means
Tukaram is naming a moment of arrival and crediting it to long-stored merit finally ripening. He had longed to reach the feet of the saints, and now that it has happened, the grip of worldly grief loosens all at once. The turn is that meeting the saints is the same as meeting God: the dark, beautiful Absolute stands before him in their company. He says their embrace made his very body sacred and laying his head at their feet transformed him, so the explainer is that for him the saints are not separate from the God he sought. The end is pure gratitude: he falls full-length before them, overwhelmed by what he sees.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
More in this theme →