Ecstasy, the mind absorbed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
िस्थरावली वृित्त पांगुळला प्राण । अंतरींची खुण पावूनियां ॥1॥
पुंजाळले नेत्र जाले अधाौन्मीिळत । कंठ सद्गदित रोमांच आले ॥ध्रु.॥
चित्त चाकाटलें स्वरूपा माझारी । न निघे बाहेरी सुखावलों ॥2॥
सुनीळ प्रकाश उदैजला दिन । अमृताचें पान जीवनकळा ॥3॥
शशिसूर्या जाली जीवें ओंवाळणी । आनंदा दाटली आनंदाची ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे सुखें प्रेमासी डुलत । वीरालों नििंश्चत नििंश्चतीनें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The mind's activity has stilled; the breath has grown quiet, having received the inner sign. The eyes have grown luminous and half-closed; the throat is choked with emotion, and the hair stands on end. The mind is stunned, absorbed within the true form; it does not come back out, for it has found its joy. A deep blue radiance has dawned; the nectar of the life-force flows. The sun and moon have been offered as oblation to the jiva; bliss is brimming over with bliss. Says Tuka, swaying happily in love, I rest in perfect and certain peace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The mind's motion has stopped. The breath has gone still. The inner sign has been received. The eyes shine and are half closed. The throat chokes with feeling. The hair stands up. The mind is stunned inside the true form. It does not come back out. I am at rest in joy. A deep blue light has dawned like daybreak. I drink the nectar, the power of life. Sun and moon are waved as a lamp before this life. Bliss is crowded full of bliss. Tuka says: I sway in love, happy. I have dissolved into a peace that is sure and without doubt.
What it means
Tukaram describes the body and mind in the grip of what he has long sought. The signs are the classic marks of devotional rapture: stilled breath, half-closed shining eyes, a choked throat, hair on end. He names what causes them: the mind has fallen still inside the divine form itself and will not return to ordinary life, because it has found its joy there. A deep blue radiance dawns, the very color of the Lord, and the whole world, even sun and moon, is offered like a small lamp waved before this living presence. The poem ends not in agitation but in a settled, doubtless peace.
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