The saints, grace through the dust of their feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संतचरणरज लागतां सहज । वासनेचें बीज जळोन जाय ॥1॥
मग रामनामीं उपजे आवडी । सुख घडोघडी वाढों लागे ॥ध्रु.॥
कंठीं प्रेम दाटे नयनीं नीर लोटे । हृदयीं प्रगटे रामरूप॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे साधन सुलभ गोमटें । परि उपतिष्ठे पूर्वपुण्यें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When the dust of the saints' feet touches one spontaneously, the very seed of desire is burned away. Then love for Rama's Name arises, and happiness grows moment by moment. Emotion chokes the throat, tears stream from the eyes, and the form of Rama appears in the heart. Says Tuka, this path is simple and beautiful, but it comes only through the merit of past lives.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the dust of the saints' feet touches you of its own accord, the very seed of desire burns away. Then love for Rama's Name is born, and happiness grows moment by moment. Love swells in the throat, tears stream from the eyes, the form of Rama appears in the heart. Tuka says: this path is easy and lovely, yet it comes only by the merit of past lives.
What it means
Tukaram describes the chain of grace that begins with the saints. He says the touch of the dust of their feet, when it comes on its own, burns the very seed of craving, so the change does not start with effort but with contact. From that follows a sequence the plain layer simply reports: love for Rama's Name arises, joy grows, the throat chokes with feeling, tears come, and Rama's form shows itself in the heart. The frame he adds at the end holds two truths together without softening either: the path is easy and beautiful, and yet it is not had on demand. He says it ripens only through the merit of past lives, which is his way of marking such an encounter as grace, not as something one can simply seize.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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