Ecstasy, beyond good and bad fortune
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शुभ जाल्या दिशा अवघा चि काळ । अशुभ मंगळ मंगळाचें ॥1॥
हातींचिया दीपें दुराविली निशी । न देखिजे कैसी आहे ते ही ॥ध्रु.॥
सुख दुःखाहूनि नाहीं विपरीत । देतील आघात हितफळें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां आह्मांसी हें भलें । अवघे चि जाले जीव जंत ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All directions have become auspicious, all time blessed; what was inauspicious has turned to good. The lamp in our hands has banished the night; we cannot even see what darkness looks like. Beyond both happiness and sorrow, there is nothing adverse; even blows bring the fruit of good. Says Tuka, now everything is well for us; all living beings have become our own.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Every direction has turned auspicious, all time blessed; what was inauspicious has become good. The lamp in our hands has driven off the night; we can no longer even see what darkness was like. Beyond happiness and sorrow there is nothing against us; even blows now bear the fruit of good. Tuka says: now all is well with us; every living creature has become our own.
What it means
Tukaram describes a state where the old split between lucky and unlucky has collapsed. With God's lamp in hand the darkness is so wholly gone that he can no longer even picture it, and every direction and every moment reads as auspicious. He has moved past the seesaw of pleasure and pain, so that even blows arrive as something good for him. The final turn is the widest: there is no enemy left, because every living being has become his own. This is not denial of hardship but a vantage from which nothing can finally count as harm.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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