Longing, the fruit not yet ripe
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धरितों वासना परी नये फळ । प्राप्तीचा तो काळ नाहीं आला ॥1॥
तळमळी चित्त घातलें खापरीं । फुटतसे परी लाहीचिया ॥ध्रु.॥
प्रकार ते कांहीं नावडती जीवा । नाहीं पुढें ठावा काळ हातीं ॥2॥
जातों तळा येतों मागुता लौकरी । वोळशाचे फेरी सांपडलों ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे बहु करितों विचार । उतरें डोंगर एक चढें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I hold the desire, but the fruit does not come; the time of fulfillment has not yet arrived. My chitta, placed upon the griddle, seethes and cracks like parched grain. The ways of the world do not please my jiva, and the future is not in my hands. I sink down and rise again quickly, caught in these revolving cycles. Says Tuka, I deliberate endlessly; one mountain descends only for another to rise.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I hold the desire, but the fruit does not come. The time of attainment has not yet arrived. My heart writhes; thrown on the hot griddle, it bursts like a grain of parched corn. The ways of the world do not please my soul, and the time ahead is not in my hands. I go down and climb back up again at once, caught in the turning of the cycle. Tuka says: I think and think it over; one mountain goes down only for another to rise.
What it means
Tukaram names the special pain of devotion deferred: he has the longing fully formed, but the fruit will not ripen because the appointed time has not come. He gives it a sharp image, his heart cracking and popping like a kernel of corn on a hot pan, unable to rest. The trap is that the world no longer satisfies him and yet God has not yet arrived, so he is suspended between, with the future out of his control and no relief either way. The closing line lands the whole condition: his endless deliberation gets nowhere, because crossing one mountain only reveals another, and the seeker keeps climbing without arriving.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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