Longing, the go-between and the bride
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हरिसुं मिल दे एक हि बेर । पाछे तूं फिर नावे घर ॥1॥
मात सुनो दुति आवे मनावन । जाया करति भर जोबन ॥ध्रु.॥
हरिसुख मोहि कहिया न जाये । तव तूं बुझे आगोपाये ॥2॥
देखहि भाव कछु पकरि हात । मिलाइ तुका प्रभुसात ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O messenger, let me meet Hari just once; after that you may go home. O mother, listen: the go-between has come to persuade me, and I who am in the full bloom of youth am ready to go. The joy of Hari cannot be told by me in words. You will understand it only when you yourself have tasted it. See my sincerity and take my hand. Unite Tuka with his Lord.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
O messenger, let me meet Hari just once; after that you may turn and go home. O mother, listen: a go-between has come to win me over, and I, in the full bloom of my youth, am ready to go. The joy of Hari cannot be told by me in words. You will understand it only when you taste it yourself. See how sincere I am, and take my hand. Tuka says: unite me with my Lord.
What it means
Tukaram sings as a young bride longing for her beloved, where the soul is the bride and Hari is the lord she aches to meet. A go-between, the saints or the inner pull toward God, has come to persuade her, and she is wholly ready to go. She tells her worried mother that the joy of God cannot be put into words; it can only be known by tasting it directly. The poem ends as a plea: see that my longing is real, take my hand, and bring me to my Lord. The sweetness of union is offered as something beyond report, available only to the one who goes.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →