Ecstasy, the night vigil
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सावध जालों सावध जालों । हरिच्या आलों जागरणा ॥१॥
तेथें वैष्णवांचे भार । जयजयकार गर्जतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
पळोनियां गेली झोप । होतें पाप आड तें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे त्या ठाया । ओल छाया कृपेची ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have become vigilant, I have become vigilant. I have come to Hari's night-vigil. There, multitudes of Vaishnavas, roaring in victory. Sleep has fled. The sin that stood obstructing is gone. Tuka says: in that place, the moist shade of grace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have woken up, I have woken up. I have come to Hari's night of keeping watch. Crowds of his people are here, their cry of victory thundering. Sleep has run away from me, and the sin that was blocking the path is gone. Tuka says: in that place there is a cool, moist shade, the shade of grace.
What it means
The vigil here is both literal and inward. Tukaram has come to the all-night singing of God's name and finds himself truly awake at last. The roar of the gathered devotees, the fleeing of sleep, the lifting of the sin that stood in the way, all of it describes a soul coming to attention. The final image is the reward: where God's name is kept through the night, there is a cool, moist shade, relief from the heat of the world, and he names that shade grace.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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