Ecstasy, the relief of devotion
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भक्ति आह्मी केली सांडुनी उद्वेग । पावलों हें सांग सुख याचें ॥1॥
सुख आह्मां जालें धरितां यांचा संग । पळाले उद्वेग सांडूनिया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सुख बहु जालें जिवा । घडली या सेवा विठोबाची ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We took up devotion, casting off our torment, and gained this joy from it. Joy has come to us by holding their company, and all distress has fled. Says Tuka, great happiness has come to the soul, for we have been granted the service of Vithoba.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We took up devotion and threw off our distress. From it we have come into this whole joy. Joy came to us by holding his company. The distress fled and was left behind. Tuka says: great happiness has come to my soul, for the service of Vithoba has fallen to me.
What it means
Tukaram describes the simple exchange that devotion made for him: he set down his agitation and received joy in its place. The point is that the joy was not generated by effort but came through keeping company with God, and once that company was held, the distress did not linger but ran off on its own. He counts being given the service of Vithoba as the cause of it all. The explainer is that for Tukaram, serving God is not a burden added to life but the very thing that lifts the burden off.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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