Reunion, the meal of love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
होतें तैसें पायीं केलें निवेदन । अंतरलों दिन बहुत होतों ॥1॥
संबोखुनी केलें समाधान चित्त । वोगरुणि भात प्रेमरस॥ध्रु.॥
नामरत्नमणी करूनी भूषण । अळंकारमंडण माळा दिली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सुखें जालों निरामय । नामीं नामसोय निमग्नता ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
As I was, so I offered myself at His feet. I had been starved of Him for many long days. He consoled me and settled my mind, serving me a meal of love. He adorned me with the jeweled garland of the Name as my ornament and decoration. Says Tuka, I have happily become free of all ailment, immersed in the Name, absorbed in the Name's own way.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
As I was, just so, I offered myself at his feet. I had been kept from him for many days. He comforted me and settled my mind. He served me a meal of love. He made the jewel of the Name into an ornament for me. He gave me a garland to adorn me. Tuka says: I have become well and free of all sickness. I am sunk in the Name, lost in the Name's own way.
What it means
Tukaram speaks as one taken back after a long separation. He does not clean himself up first; he comes to Vitthal's feet exactly as he is, after many empty days. The Lord answers not with rebuke but with care: he calms the restless mind and feeds it on love, then dresses the devotee in the Name as if in jewels and a garland. The result is health, the end of the ache that the separation was. To be cured here is simply to be wholly absorbed in the Name, with no part of the self left outside it.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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