Longing, watching the road home
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां पाहों पंथ माहेराची वाट । कामाचा बोभाट पडो सुखें ॥1॥
काय करूं आतां न गमेसें जालें । बहुत सोसिलें बहु दिस ॥ध्रु.॥
घर लागे पाठी चित्ता उभे वारे । आपुलें तें झुरे पाहावया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जीव गेला तरी जाव । धरिला तो देव भाव सिद्धी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now let me watch the path that leads home; let the clamor of duties fall away. What can I do? Life has become unbearable; I have endured too much for too long. The home calls to my chitta; restless winds blow through my mind, yearning to see what is truly mine. Says Tuka, even if life itself departs, let the devotion I have held reach its fulfillment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now let me watch the path that leads home. Let the clamor of duties fall away. What can I do now? Life has become unbearable. I have borne too much for too many days. The home calls to me; restless winds blow through my mind, aching to see what is truly mine. Tuka says: even if life itself leaves me, let it leave; the devotion I have held will reach its fulfillment.
What it means
Tukaram turns his whole attention away from worldly business toward the one road that matters, the road to God, his true home. He admits the waiting has worn him out and that he cannot bear ordinary life any longer; his mind is blown about like a house in a storm, restless to see the One who belongs to him. Then he names the cost he will pay: even his own life is expendable. What he refuses to lose is the devotion itself, and he trusts that the bhava he has held will be carried through to its end whether or not the body survives the longing.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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