Ecstasy, joy too full for words
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांगतां गोष्टी लागती गोडा । हा तो रोकडा अनुभव ॥1॥
सुख जालें सुख जालें । नये बोले बोलतां ॥ध्रु.॥
अंतर तें नये दिसों । आतां सोस कासया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जतन करूं । हें चि धरूं जीवेंसी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When we speak of these things, they taste sweet; this is direct, living experience. Such joy has come, such joy, that words fail in the telling. No distance remains to be seen, so what cause is there for longing? Says Tuka, I will guard this treasure and hold it close to my very life.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When we speak of these things, they taste sweet. This is plain, living experience, here in the hand. Joy has come, joy has come. It cannot be told in speech. No inner distance is left to be seen. So why any more longing? Tuka says: I will guard this. I will hold it with my very life.
What it means
Tukaram is reporting a joy he has actually tasted, not a doctrine he has been told. Speaking of God is sweet, but the joy itself outruns speech and cannot be set down in words. What makes it complete is that the separation between him and God has closed, so there is nothing left to ache for. The poem ends as a vow: a treasure this real is to be protected and kept pressed close to his own life.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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