Surrender, the bond that holds
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पावे ऐसा नाश । अवघियां दिला त्रास ॥१॥
अविटाचा केला संग । सर्व भोगी पांडुरंग ॥ध्रु.॥
आइता च पाक । संयोगाचा सकळिक ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धणी । सीमा राहिली होऊनी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He gave trouble to everyone, bringing about their ruin, yet formed an unfading bond with Panduranga, who bears all things. The feast was ready-made, a gathering of every kind of being. Says Tuka, the boundary has been drawn and now stands firm.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Such ruin comes that everyone is troubled by it. But I have made my bond with the one who never fades; Panduranga enjoys all things. The feast was ready-made, a gathering of every kind of thing. Tuka says: I am full now. A limit has been reached, and there it stays.
What it means
Tukaram sets two things side by side: the ruin that troubles everyone, and the one bond that holds against it. Everything in the world wears down and gives trouble, but Panduranga does not fade, and to join oneself to him is to join the one who already enjoys and bears all things. The feast was never something Tukaram had to prepare; it lay ready, a gathering of every kind of being, waiting only to be received. He ends in fullness: he has had enough, a boundary has been reached, and there it stays. The point is that the satisfied soul stops reaching, because the unfading one is all it needs.
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