Ecstasy, the meeting of eyes
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुखाचें ओतलें । दिसे श्रीमुख चांगलें ॥1॥
मनेंधरिला अभिळास । मिठी घातली पायांस ॥ध्रु.॥
होतां दृष्टादृष्टी । तापगेला उठाउठी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाला । लाभें लाभ दुणावला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The blessed face shines as though cast in the mold of joy. The mind has seized upon its desire and clasped His feet in a firm embrace. The moment our eyes met, all suffering left at once. Says Tuka, gain has doubled upon gain.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It is as if joy itself were poured into a mold. So beautiful is the sacred face. My mind seized its longing. It threw its arms around his feet. The moment our eyes met, the fever lifted at once. Tuka says: it has happened. Gain has doubled upon gain.
What it means
Tukaram is describing the instant of darshan, the sight of God's face. He says that face looks as though joy itself had been cast into a mold, and at the sight his mind grabs hold of its long desire and clasps the feet. The change is immediate: the moment their eyes meet, the heat of his suffering simply lifts. He ends in plain astonishment that it has actually happened, and that the gain keeps multiplying, gain doubling upon gain.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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