Ecstasy, the world seen as God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तेणें सुखें माझें निवालें अंग । विठ्ठल हें जग देखियेलें ॥1॥
कवतुकें करुणा भाकीतसें लाडें । आवडी बोबडें बोलोनियां ॥ध्रु.॥
मज नाहीं दशा अंतरीं दुःखाची । भावना भेदाची समूळ गेली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सुख जालें माझ्या जीवा । रंगलें केशवा तुझ्या रंगे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
By that bliss my whole being has been cooled. I see the world as Vitthal. With tender love I make my playful plea, speaking in the lisping language of a child. There is no trace of sorrow within me; the very notion of difference has been uprooted entirely. Says Tuka, joy has filled my jiva; it has been dyed in Your color, O Keshava.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
By that bliss my whole body has been cooled. I see this world as Vitthal. Playfully, with tenderness, I make my plea, speaking in the lisping way of a small child. There is no state of sorrow left inside me. The sense of difference has been pulled up by the root. Tuka says: joy has filled my jiva. It is dyed in Your color, O Keshava.
What it means
This is the calm after longing, when the seeking has been answered. Tukaram says his whole being has been cooled, and now he looks out and sees nothing but Vitthal everywhere, the world itself become God. The lisping, childlike speech shows the relationship has gone soft and intimate; there is nothing left to demand, only to play. He names what has changed at the root: the feeling of separation, of me-and-not-me, is gone, and with it all inner sorrow. The closing image of being dyed in Keshava's color says the change is not a passing mood but a soaking-through of the very self.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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