Ecstasy, the embrace that ends duality
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हा चि परमानंद आळंगीन बाहीं । क्षेम देतां ठायीं द्वैत तुटे ॥1॥
बोलायासि मात मन निवे हरषें चित्त । दुणी वाढे प्रीत प्रेमसुख ॥ध्रु.॥
जनांत भूषण वैकुंठीं सरता । फावलें स्वहिता सर्वभावें ॥2॥
तुटला वेव्हार माया लोकाचार । समूळ संसार पारुषला ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे हा विठ्ठल चि व्हावा । आणिकी या जीवा चाड नाहीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This is the supreme bliss: I shall embrace Him in my arms. When we clasp each other, all duality is destroyed. When I speak with Him, my mind is soothed, my chitta rejoices in delight, and the joy of love doubles. He is the ornament among people and the accepted one in Vaikuntha. One's own welfare is fully attained through Him in every way. All worldly dealings, all illusion and social custom, are cut away at the root. Samsara itself has withered and dried up. Says Tuka, let there be only Vitthal. This jiva desires nothing else.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This itself is the highest bliss: I will hold Him in my arms. When we embrace, on the spot, all duality breaks. When I speak with Him my mind grows calm, my heart leaps with joy, and the love, the sweetness of love, doubles. He is the ornament among people and the honored one in Vaikuntha; through Him my own good is gained in every way. All dealings, all illusion and social custom, are cut. Worldly life has withered from the root. Tuka says: let there only be Vitthal. This soul wants nothing else.
What it means
Tukaram pushes love past worship into union, and names the price and the prize together. The embrace is not a figure of speech to him; in it, the gap between worshipper and worshipped breaks open, and duality ends. Speaking with Vitthal calms his mind and doubles his love, and he sees that the one who is honored both among people and in heaven is the whole of his own good. The cost is everything else: business, illusion, social custom, the entire round of worldly life, all cut away at the root. His final word leaves no room to bargain: only Vitthal, and nothing besides.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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