Ecstasy, the ego underfoot
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वाजतील तुरें । येणें आनंदें गजरें ॥१॥
जिंकोनियां अहंकार । पावटणी केलें शिर ॥ध्रु.॥
काळा नाहीं वाव । परा श्रमा कोठें ठाव ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आतां । सोपें वैकुंठासी जातां ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Trumpets shall sound with this joy and celebration. Having conquered the ego, I have made its head my stepping stone. Death has no room here; there is no place for any other burden. Says Tuka, the way to Vaikuntha is now easy.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Trumpets will sound with this joy and uproar. I have conquered the ego, and made its head my stepping stone. Here death has no room; where would any other burden find a place? Tuka says: now the way to Vaikuntha is easy.
What it means
Tukaram celebrates a single victory and what it opens. He has conquered the ego and set his foot on its head, using the very thing that once ruled him as the step that lifts him up. Once that is done, death finds no room and no other burden can take hold, because the self that feared and labored has been put down. The trumpets and uproar are the festival of a soul that has won. His conclusion is plain joy: with the ego underfoot, the road to Vaikuntha, God's own realm, is now easy to walk.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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