Ecstasy, become fire itself
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सदा नामघोष करूं हरिकथा । तेणें सदा चित्ता समाधान ॥1॥
सर्वसुख ल्यालों सर्व अलंकार । आनंदें निर्भर डुलतसों ॥ध्रु.॥
असों ऐसा कोठें आठव ही नाहीं । देहीं च विदेही भोगूं दशा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी जालों अिग्नरूप । लागों नेदूं पापपुण्य आतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We will always raise the chant of the Name and perform Hari's sacred discourse. By that, the mind is forever at peace. We have donned every ornament of joy and sway in bliss. We no longer even remember where we are; while in the body, we experience the state of the bodiless. Says Tuka, we have become fire itself. We will not let either sin or merit cling to us now.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We will always raise the cry of the Name and tell the story of Hari. By that the heart is always at peace. We have put on every ornament of joy, and we sway, full of bliss. We do not even remember where we are; while in the body, we taste the state of the bodiless. Tuka says: we have become fire itself. We will let neither sin nor merit cling to us now.
What it means
Tukaram describes a fullness reached through one practice: the constant chant of the Name and the telling of Hari's story, which keeps the heart steadily at peace. The joy is total enough to be worn like ornaments, swaying the whole body, and so complete that even the awareness of place dissolves; though still embodied, he tastes the freedom of one with no body. The closing image is the radical claim, holding firm rather than softened: we have become fire itself. As fire burns clean and lets nothing stick, this state lets neither sin nor merit cling, for the soul absorbed in the Name has passed beyond the whole ledger of good and bad deeds.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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