Longing, love that seizes the senses
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाय तिकडे लागे पाठीं । नाहीं तुटी आठवाची ॥1॥
हरूनियां नेलें चित्त । माझें थीत भांडवल ॥ध्रु.॥
दावूनियां रूप डोळां। मन चाळा लावियेलें ॥2॥
आणीक तोंडा पडिली मिठी । कान गोठी नाइकती ॥3॥
बोलिल्याचा आठव न घडे । वाणी ओढे ते सोई ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे प्रेमधगी । भरली अंगीं अखंड ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Wherever I go, the memory of Him follows me without a break. He has stolen my mind, which was my only capital. He showed His form to my eyes and set my mind into a restless longing. My mouth is sealed shut; my ears refuse to hear any other talk. My tongue is drawn only toward Him, and I cannot recall what else was ever spoken. Says Tuka, the fire of love blazes ceaselessly through my whole being.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Wherever I go, the memory follows at my back; it never breaks off. He has stolen my mind away, which was all the capital I had. He showed his form to my eyes and set my mind restless with longing. My mouth is sealed; my ears will not hear other talk. I cannot recall what else was said; my tongue is drawn only that one way. Tuka says: the fire of love has filled my whole body, unbroken.
What it means
Tukaram describes love so total that it has taken over every sense. The memory of God follows him wherever he goes and never lets up, and he says his mind, the only capital he owned, has been stolen outright. Once the divine form was shown to his eyes, the mind was set into ceaseless longing, and the senses fell in line behind it: the mouth shut to other speech, the ears deaf to other talk, the tongue pulled only one way. He cannot even remember anything else that was spoken to him. The poem lands on an image of unbroken fire, love burning through the whole body without pause.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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