Ecstasy, every hour made holy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सदा पर्वकाळ सुदिन सुवेळ । चित्त प्रेमें असे धालें ॥1॥
अवघा आह्मां तूं च जालासी देवा । संसार हेवा कामधंदा ।
न लगे जाणें कोठें कांहीं च करणें । मुखीं नाम ध्यान सदा ॥ध्रु.॥
भोजन सारूं ठायीं फल तांबोल कांहीं । पूजा नैवेद्य तुज होती ।
चालतां प्रदक्षणा निद्रा लोटांगण । दंडवत तुजप्रति ।
देखोन दृष्टी परस्परें गोष्टी । अवघ्या तुझ्या मूतिन॥2॥
जाल्या तीर्थरूप वावी नदी कूप । अवघें गंगाजळ जालें।
महाल मंदिरें माडएा तनघरें । झोपडएा अवघीं देव देवाइलें।
ऐकें कानीं त्या हरिनामध्वनी । नाना शब्द होत जाले ।
तुका ह्मणे या विठोबाचे दास । सदा प्रेमसुखें धाले ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Every day is a holy day, every hour auspicious, for the chitta is brimming with love. You have become everything to us, O God: our worldly life, our ambitions, our daily work. We need go nowhere, need do nothing; Your name and Your meditation on our lips is enough. When we finish eating, whatever fruit or betel we take becomes an offering to You; our walking becomes circumambulation, our sleep becomes prostration, our bowing becomes salutation to You. Whatever our eyes behold, whatever conversation we share, it is all Your form. Every well, river, and pond has become holy water; every mansion, temple, hut, and shed has become a shrine. Every sound the ear hears has become the chanting of Hari's name. Says Tuka, we who are Vitthoba's servants are always brimming with the joy of love.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Every day is a holy day, every hour the right hour, for the chitta is full and overflowing with love. You alone have become everything to us, God: our worldly life, our wanting, our daily work. We need go nowhere and do nothing; your name and your meditation on the lips is enough. When we finish a meal, whatever fruit or betel we take becomes an offering to you. Walking becomes circling you; sleep becomes prostration; bowing becomes salutation to you. Whatever the eyes see, whatever talk we share, all of it is your form. Every well and river and pond has become Ganga water. Every mansion, temple, upper room, hut, and shed has become a shrine. Every sound the ear catches has become the chanting of Hari's name. Tuka says: we who are Vithoba's servants are always full and overflowing with the joy of love.
What it means
Tukaram describes a life so soaked in God that the line between worship and ordinary living has dissolved. There is no special festival day, because every hour is already holy and the heart is brimming. God has taken the place of everything once chased after, so there is nowhere to go and nothing extra to do; the Name on the lips is the whole practice. Then he reads every plain act as worship: eating becomes offering, walking becomes circumambulation, sleep and a casual bow become prostration and salute. Sight, speech, every building, every body of water, every sound, all of it turns into shrine and sacred river and the chanting of Hari. This is the ecstasy of God's servants, whose joy never empties.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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