Fulfillment in silence, the body as God's house
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
इच्छावें तें जवळी आलें । काय बोलें कारण ॥१॥
नामरूपीं पडिली गांठी । अवघ्या गोष्टी सरल्या ॥ध्रु.॥
मुकियाचे परी जीवीं । साकर जेवों खादली ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे काय बोलें । आतां भलें मौन्य ची ॥३॥
परद्रव्य परनारी । याचा धरीं विटाळ ॥ध्रु.॥
देवभाग्यें घरा येती । संपत्ती त्या सकळा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तें शरीर । गृह भांडार देवाचें ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All that I desired has come near; what more is there to say? The Name and the Form have become knotted together and every matter is settled. Like a mute who has eaten sugar, I know the sweetness but cannot express it. Says Tuka, what can I say now? Silence itself is the best. Regard another's wealth and another's spouse as things to be shunned. By God's grace, all good fortune comes to the house on its own. Says Tuka, that body is God's own dwelling; the household and its store belong to him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
All that I longed for has come near. What reason is there to speak? The Name and the Form are knotted together, and every matter is settled. Like a mute who has eaten sugar, I taste the sweetness in my heart but cannot say it. Tuka says: what can I say now? Silence itself is best now. Treat another's wealth and another's spouse as things defiled, to be shunned. By God's grace all riches come to the house on their own. Tuka says: that body is God's own dwelling; the home and its store belong to him.
What it means
This piece moves from an ecstasy that words fail to reach toward the plain conduct that flows from it. The longing is fulfilled, the Name and the Form have joined, and like the mute who has tasted sugar Tukaram knows a sweetness he cannot speak, so he chooses silence as the truest response. The second movement turns that fullness into ethics: keep clear of another's money and another's spouse, and trust that real fortune comes by God's grace, not grasping. The closing line names why such purity matters. The body itself is God's dwelling, and all that the house holds is finally his.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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