Ecstasy, joy beyond words at the saints' feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांगतां हें नये सुख । कीर्ती मुख न पुरे ॥1॥
आवडीनें सेवन करू । जीवींचें धरूं जीवीं च ॥ध्रु.॥
उपमा या देतां लाभा । काशा शोभा सारिखी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नुचलीं डोई । ठेविली पायीं संतांचे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This joy cannot be told in words; singing His glory, the mouth is never satisfied. Let us partake of it with love, holding what is in the heart within the heart itself. When one tries to compare this gain, what likeness is worthy of it? Says Tuka, I have not lifted my head; I have kept it placed at the feet of the saints.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This joy cannot be told; singing his glory, the mouth is never satisfied. Let us taste it with love, holding what is in the heart within the heart itself. When you look for something to compare this gain to, what beauty is its match? Tuka says: I have not lifted my head; I have laid it at the feet of the saints.
What it means
Tukaram is trying, and gladly failing, to describe a joy that has no words and a praise the mouth can never exhaust. He counsels savoring it inwardly with love, keeping the heart's experience held within the heart rather than spending it in talk. When he reaches for a comparison, nothing in the world is fine enough to stand beside this gain. The poem ends in the posture that holds it all: he has not raised his head in pride or even to look, he has simply laid it down at the feet of the saints. The unspoken claim is that this surrender is itself the place where the unspeakable joy is found.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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