Possession, the wedge between self and God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जीव खादला देवत । माझा येणें महाभूतें । झोंबलें निरुतें । कांहीं करितां न सुटे ॥1॥
आतां करूं काय । न चले करितां उपाय । तुह्मां आह्मां सय । विघडाविघड केली ॥ध्रु.॥
बोलतां दुिश्चती । मी वो पडियेलें भ्रांती । आठव हा चित्तीं । न ये ह्मणतां मी माझें ॥2॥
भलतें चि चावळे । जना अवघिया वेगळे । नाठवती बाळें । आपपर सारिखें ॥3॥
तुह्मां आह्मां भेटी । नाहीं जाली जीवेंसाटीं । तुका ह्मणे दृष्टी । पाहा जवळी आहे तों ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A divine force has devoured my life. This great elemental power has seized me entirely, and no effort can shake it loose. What can I do now? No remedy avails. It has driven a wedge between You and me. In my confusion I have fallen into delusion. The remembrance does not come to my chitta, try as I might to say "I" and "mine." I babble at random, estranged from everyone. I forget my own children; self and other feel the same. Says Tuka, we have not met, life meeting life. Look, while You are still near, open Your eyes and see.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A divine force has eaten my life. This great power has seized me completely, and nothing I do can shake it loose. What can I do now? No remedy works. It has driven a wedge between you and me. In my confusion I have fallen into delusion. The remembrance will not come to my mind, however hard I try to say "I" and "mine." I babble at random, cut off from everyone. I forget my own children; self and other feel the same to me. Tuka says: we have not yet met, life touching life. Look, while you are still near, open your eyes and see.
What it means
Tukaram describes longing as a force that has devoured him, seized him so completely that no effort can pry it loose. He cannot even hold his old footing in the world: the words "I" and "mine" no longer take hold, he forgets his own children, and self and other have collapsed into one. Yet he names the ache honestly: the same seizure has wedged itself between him and God, so that full union, life meeting life, has not yet happened. The poem ends as a cry for God to look back while he is still within reach, before the gap becomes final.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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