Saints, the cutting of doubt
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धन्य काळ संतभेटी । पायीं मिठी पडिली तो ॥1॥
संदेहाची सुटली गांठी । जालें पोटीं शीतळ ॥ध्रु.॥
भवनदीचा जाला तारा । या उत्तरा प्रसादें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मंगळ आतां । कोण दाता याहूनि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Blessed is the hour when the saints are met. That was the moment I fell, embracing their feet. The knot of doubt came undone. It became cool within my belly. By the grace of their words, I was ferried across the river of worldly existence. Says Tuka, now all is auspicious. What giver is greater than this?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Blessed is the hour when the saints are met. That was the moment I fell and held their feet. The knot of doubt came undone. It grew cool inside me. By the grace of their words I was carried across the river of worldly life. Tuka says: now all is auspicious. What giver is greater than this?
What it means
Tukaram is recounting what the meeting with the saints did for him and calling it the turning point. He marks the moment he embraced their feet as a blessed hour, not a small courtesy. What it accomplished was inward: the tight knot of his doubt loosened, and the burning in him went cool. He credits their words, their grace, with ferrying him over the river of worldly existence, the crossing he could not make alone. He ends in gratitude that overflows into a question: now that everything is auspicious, what greater giver could there be than the saints?
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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