Longing, dry knowledge and the ache for darshan
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुमची तों भेटी नव्हे ऐसी जाली । कोरडी च बोली ब्रह्मज्ञान ॥1॥
आतां न बोलावें ऐसें वाटे देवा । संग न करावा कोणांसवें ॥ध्रु.॥
तुह्मां निमित्यासी सांपडले अंग । नेदावा हा संग विचारिलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझी राहिली वासना । आवडी दर्शनाची च होती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Your meeting, O Lord, has become what is no meeting at all. All talk of Brahman-knowledge is dry words. Now, O God, I feel I should speak no more, and should keep no one's company. My body has become an occasion for others; upon reflection, I have decided not to give this company. Says Tuka, my longing remains; it was always only the love of Your darshan.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Your meeting, Lord, has turned into what is no meeting at all. All this talk of Brahman-knowledge is dry words. Now, O God, I feel I should speak no more, and keep no one's company. My body has become an occasion others use; on reflection, I have decided not to give this company. Tuka says: my longing stays. It was always only the love of seeing you.
What it means
Tukaram is grieving that what passes for union with God has gone hollow, and that high talk of Brahman-knowledge tastes dry to him because it is not the thing he wants. He resolves to withdraw into silence and solitude, having noticed that his own body and presence have become a stage for other people's use. So he decides to give that company no longer. Underneath the withdrawal one desire is left untouched: he never wanted abstract knowledge, only the living sight of God, the darshan that his whole longing was always aimed at.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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