Longing, home to the mother's house
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
यावें माहेरास । हे च सर्वकाळ आस ॥1॥
घ्यावी उिच्छष्टाची धणी । तीर्थ इच्छी पायवणी ॥ध्रु.॥
भोग उभा आड । आहे तोंवरी च नाड ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवें । माझें सिद्धी पाववावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My constant longing is to come home to the mother's house. I wish to eat the leftovers of the saints' meal until my belly is full and to drink the water that has washed their feet. So long as the body and its obligations stand in the way, the pull of longing persists. Says Tuka, may God bring my aspiration to fulfillment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To come home to the mother's house: this is what I long for, all the time. Let me eat my fill of the saints' leftovers. Let me drink the water that washed their feet. As long as the body and its claims stand in the way, the ache stays. Tuka says: God, bring what I long for to its fulfillment.
What it means
Tukaram pictures the soul as a married daughter aching to return to her mother's house, the place of the saints and of God. What he wants there is humble to the point of self-erasure: to eat the saints' leftovers and drink the water from their feet, treating their lowest remnants as the highest food. He names the one obstacle plainly: the body and its obligations stand in the way, and as long as they do, the longing burns unsatisfied. The closing line hands the whole thing to God, asking that the desire itself be carried to completion.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →