Longing, only the sight is asked
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय तुझें वेचे मज भेटी देतां । वचन बोलतां एक दोन ॥1॥
काय तुझें रूप घेतों मी चोरोनि । त्या भेणें लपोनि राहिलासी ॥ध्रु.॥
काय तुझें आह्मां करावें वैकुंठ । भेवों नको भेट आतां मज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुझी नलगे दसोडी । परि आहे आवडी दर्शनाची ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What does it cost you to grant me an audience? What expense is there in speaking a word or two? Am I stealing your form, that you hide from me in fear? Must you give me Vaikuntha itself? Do not be afraid; simply meet me now. Says Tuka, I do not need your full estate; I only long for the sight of you.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What does it cost you to meet me? What expense in speaking a word or two? Am I stealing your form, that you hide from me in fear? Must you give me Vaikuntha itself? Do not be afraid. Just meet me now. Tuka says: I do not want your whole estate; I only love the sight of you.
What it means
Tukaram pleads for the one thing he wants and insists how small a thing it is. He presses the point with almost teasing questions: meeting him costs nothing, a word or two costs nothing, and he is not trying to steal God's form or extract Vaikuntha, heaven itself. So why hide as if there were something to fear or lose? He strips his desire down to its barest form. He is not after God's gifts or estate; he asks only for darshan, the sight of the Lord. The longing is purified to the point where the meeting alone is the whole prize.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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