Ecstasy, safe at rest beside the Lord
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ठाव तुह्मांपाशीं । जाला आतां हृषीकेशी ॥1॥
न लगे जागावें सतत । येथें स्वभावें हे नीत ॥ध्रु.॥
चोरटएासी थारा। येथें कैंचा जी दातारा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मनें । आह्मां जालें समाधान॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A place has been found beside You now, O Hrishikesha. There is no need to keep constant guard; this is the natural order here. Where can a thief find shelter in such a place, O generous Lord? Says Tuka, our minds have found their peace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A place beside you has become mine now, Hrishikesha. There is no need to keep watch all the time; here this is simply the nature of things. What shelter could a thief ever find in this place, O giver? Tuka says: in our mind we have found peace.
What it means
Tukaram describes the rest of one who has found his place beside God. Once he is settled close to Hrishikesha, the Lord of the senses, he no longer has to stand guard, because safety is built into that place itself. No thief, no enemy of the soul, can find a foothold near the giver of all. The result is the line that closes it: the mind has found its peace. He is naming the security that comes only from nearness to God, where vigilance gives way to trust.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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