I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

The quote sketches a three-stage moral awakening. First, “dreamt” joy implies a private, imagined happiness—pleasure as an inward state. Waking brings disillusionment: life appears defined by obligation and service to others. The final turn is experiential rather than theoretical: only by acting—entering service—does the speaker “behold” that service itself becomes joy. The structure argues that meaning is not found by chasing happiness directly, but by committing oneself to purposeful, compassionate labor. In Tagore’s broader thought, joy is often portrayed as something that arises from harmony with the world and from creative or ethical participation in it, rather than from self-enclosed desire.

1) “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was duty. I acted and behold, duty was joy.”
2) “I slept and dreamed that life was joy; I woke and found that life was service; I acted and, behold, service was joy.”
3) “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was happiness.”