Longing, hurry to embrace
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
क्षेम देयाला हो । स्फुरताती दंड बाहो ॥1॥
आतां झडझडां चालें । देई उचलूं पाउलें ॥ध्रु.॥
सांडीं हंसगती । बहु उत्कंठा हे चित्तीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आई । श्रीरंगे विठाबाई ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My arms tremble with eagerness to embrace you. Come quickly now, lift your feet and hasten your steps. Abandon that graceful swan-gait, for the longing in my chitta is too great. Says Tuka, O Shrirang, O dear Vithabai, come to me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My arms shake with eagerness to hold you close. Come quickly now, lift your feet, hasten your steps. Drop that slow swan-walk; the longing in my heart is too great. Tuka says: come to me, O Shrirang, O dear Vithabai.
What it means
Tukaram writes from the moment just before a longed-for meeting, his arms trembling because he cannot wait to embrace God. He urges God to come fast and abandon the graceful, unhurried swan-gait, since his own heart can bear no delay. The poem turns God into the beloved who is taking too long. He calls out with tender names, Shrirang and Vithabai, the way one calls a dear one to hurry.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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