आपुले मरण पाहिले म्या डोळा - संत तुकाराम

आपुले मरण पाहिले म्या डोळा । तो जाला सोहळा अनुपम्य ॥
आनंदे दाटली तिन्ही त्रिभुवने । सर्वात्मकपणे भोग जाला ॥
एकदेशी होतो अहंकारे आथिला । त्याच्या त्यागे जाला सुकाळ हा ॥
फिटले सुतक जन्ममरणाचे । मी माझ्या संकोचे दुरी जालो ॥
नारायणे दिला वसतीस ठाव । ठेवुनिया भाव ठेलो पायी ॥
तुका म्हणे उमटूनि जगी । घेतले ते अंगी लावूनिया ॥
- संत तुकाराम

This is a very different, beautiful, enchanting, thought-provoking abhang (in marathi - वेड लावणारा अभंग). It starts with such an interesting line - आपुले मरण पाहिले म्या डोळा - 'I have seen my death with my own eyes'. Lot of poetic beauty in this line! Loved it. He continues, 'तो जाला सोहळा अनुपम्य - it was a uniquely beautiful occasion'. He is saying he has seen his own death with his eyes and it was a wonderful occasion, weird isnt it?  This abhang starts with a kind of puzzle. How can one see one's death? Lets see..

He continues expressing his great pleasure over seeing his own death. He says,
आनंदे दाटली तिन्ही त्रिभुवने । सर्वात्मकपणे भोग जाला ॥
'Whole universe is filled with Bliss now', He is so happy, he feels that whole universe is filled with bliss only. Later he says सर्वात्मकपणे, he is giving hint here on what death he is talking about. सर्वात्मक means 'soul of everything'. He says he has enjoyed as soul of the universe. Which means, he has become one with the universe, and so the whole universe is filled with bliss and he is enjoying it as the soul of the universe.

एकदेशी होतो अहंकारे आथिला । त्याच्या त्यागे जाला सुकाळ हा ॥
Here is the key to this puzzle. He says 'I was stuck in one place due to my ego, when I renounced it, it led to this beautful occasion'. There it is. The death was the death of his individual ego. He says he was limited due to his ego. Now when his ego died, he has become one with the universe, one with the God or whatever you want to call it. This is enlightenment! He says when this happened, it led to the supreme bliss that he just talked about.

फिटले सुतक जन्ममरणाचे । मी माझ्या संकोचे दुरी जालो ॥
नारायणे दिला वसतीस ठाव । ठेवुनिया भाव ठेलो पायी ॥
तुका म्हणे उमटूनि जगी । घेतले ते अंगी लावूनिया ॥
He says, 'the curse of birth and death has ended and I'm freed from my limitations, Narayan or God has given me a place at his feet and I have stayed there in full faith. Tuka says God appeared before me and has hugged me in Love' (translation of last line is debatable).
Here he says, when his ego died, he was freed from birth and death. He expresses his gratitude to the God saying he has given me a place at his feet.

Sant Tukaram has said elsewhere, 'खादल्याची गोडी, देखिल्यासी नाही’ -’One who has just seen a sweet and not tasted it, cannot explain the sweetness of the sweet'. This is one such abhang, he is writing from his experience, so the real sweetness is overflowing in it!