Ecstasy, the body moved by God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाचावेंसें वाटे मना । छंद गुणा अधीन ॥1॥
चेष्टविलीं माझीं गात्रें । सत्तासूत्रें हालती ॥ध्रु.॥
नामरूपें रंगा आलीं। ते चि चाली स्वभावें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पांडुरंगे । अंग संगें कविळलें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My mind wants to dance, captivated by Your qualities. You have moved my limbs; they sway under Your power and command. Name and form have come alive in color; this has become my natural way. Says Tuka, Panduranga has touched my very being, and I am steeped in His hue.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My mind wants to dance. The delight is held under your qualities. You have set my limbs moving. They sway by the strings of your power. Name and form have come alive in color. This is now my natural way. Tuka says: Panduranga has touched my whole body, and I am steeped in his hue.
What it means
Tukaram describes ecstasy not as something he produces but as something done to him. The urge to dance rises in his mind, ruled by God's qualities, and his own limbs move as if pulled by strings he does not hold. The hidden frame is the surrender of agency: the dancer is not the doer. Name and form have caught fire with color, and this overflow has become his second nature rather than a passing fit. The close seals it bodily; Panduranga has touched him through and through, and he is dyed in God's own color, the worshipper now soaked in the One he worships.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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