Ecstasy of kirtan, becoming Vithoba
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पूजा पुज्यमान । कथे उभे हरिजन ॥1॥
ज्याची कीर्ती वाखाणिती । तेथें ओतली ते मुर्ती ॥ध्रु.॥
देहाचा विसर । केला आनंदें संचार ॥2॥
गेला अभिमान । लाज बोळविला मान ॥3॥
शोक मोह चिंता । याची नेणती ते वार्ता ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे सखे । विठोबा च ते सारिखे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Both the worshiper and the one worshiped stand together in the kirtan gathering. Where His glory is sung, there His very form is poured out. The body is forgotten; only bliss moves through them. Ego has departed, shame has been dismissed, and honor cast aside. They know nothing of grief, delusion, or anxiety. Says Tuka, they have become just like Vithoba Himself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The worshiper and the worshiped stand together in the kirtan. Where His glory is sung, His very form is poured out there. The body is forgotten; only bliss moves through them. Pride is gone; shame is sent away; honor is let go. They know nothing of grief, of delusion, of worry. Tuka says: these dear ones have become just like Vithoba Himself.
What it means
Tukaram describes what happens to God's people in the heat of kirtan. The line between worshiper and worshiped dissolves: where the glory is sung, the very form of God floods the place, so both stand together. The singers lose track of the body, and bliss alone moves through them. With that, the props of the small self fall away: pride, shame, the craving for honor, and then grief, delusion, and anxiety, which they no longer even recognize. Emptied of all that, they take on the likeness of the one they sing; the devotee becomes like Vithoba Himself.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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