Ecstasy, no setting, only dawn
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अस्त नाहीं आतां एक चि मोहोरा । पासूनि अंधारा दुरि जालों ॥1॥
साक्षत्वें या जालों गुणाचा देखणा । करीं नारायणा तरी खरें ॥ध्रु.॥
आठवें विसरु पडियेला मागें । आलें तें चि भागें यत्न केलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझा विनोद देवासी । आह्मी तुह्मां ऐसीं दोन्ही नव्हों ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now there is no setting; one single dawn remains, for I have left darkness far behind. Through witnesshood, I have become the seer of all qualities. O Narayana, make this real. Remembrance and forgetfulness have both been left behind; whatever came by destiny was accomplished through effort. Says Tuka, my playfulness is with God alone. We are not two; there is no such division between us.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now there is no sunset, only one single dawn. I have left the darkness far behind. As witness, I have become the one who sees all the qualities. O Narayana, make this true. Remembering and forgetting are both left behind me. Whatever came by my lot was carried through by effort. Tuka says: my play is with God alone. We two are not two; there is no such division between us.
What it means
Tukaram is describing a settled state where the alternation of light and dark has ended and only an unbroken dawn remains. He has taken the standpoint of the witness, the one who watches all the changing qualities without being caught in them, and he asks Narayana to seal this as real and lasting. The pairs that used to move him, remembering and forgetting, have fallen away behind him, and what destiny brought he met with his own striving. The closing line lands the claim: his delight is with God alone, and the apparent two of devotee and Lord are not actually two. The verse stands in nondual joy without erasing the loving address.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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