Ecstasy, holding God like a mother
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अनाथां जीवन । आह्मां तुमचे चरण । करूनि सांटवण। धरीयेले हृदयीं ॥1॥
पुष्ट जाली अंगकांति । आनंद न समाये चित्तीं । कवतुकें प्रीती । गाऊं नाचों उल्हासें ॥ध्रु.॥
करुणाउत्तरीं। करून आळवण हरी । जाऊं नेदूं दुरी । प्रेमप्रीतिपडिभरें ॥2॥
मोहो माते करी गोवा । ऐसें आहे जी केशवा । तुका ह्मणे सेवा । आणीक नाहीं जाणत ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Your feet are the sustenance of the helpless; I have stored them within my chitta as my treasure. My body has grown radiant, and joy overflows from my mind. In playful love I sing and dance with exultation. Through words of tender mercy I call upon Hari, and I will not let Him go far; love and devotion hold Him fast. Just as a mother's affection binds her child, so it is, O Keshava. Says Tuka, I know no other service than this.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Your feet are the very life of the helpless; for us, your feet are everything. I have gathered them up and held them in my heart. My body has grown radiant, and joy will not fit inside my mind. In playful love I sing and dance with delight. With words of tender pleading I call on Hari, and I will not let him go far off; love and devotion hold him close. As a mother's love keeps her child bound to her, so it is, Keshava. Tuka says: I know no other service than this.
What it means
This is the joy of one who has caught hold of God and refuses to let go. Tukaram has stored Vitthal's feet in his heart as the treasure of the helpless, and the effect shows in the body: it glows, and the mind cannot contain the gladness, so it spills out as song and dance. The striking move is the reversal of roles: he holds God close the way a mother holds her child, binding the Lord with love rather than being held by him. He ends by saying this clinging love is the only worship he knows, naming devotion itself as his whole practice.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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