Longing, waiting for the pilgrims
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
येती वारकरी । वाट पाहातों तोंवरी ॥1॥
घालूनियां दंडवत । पुसेन निरोपाची मात ॥ध्रु.॥
पत्र हातीं दिलें । जया जेथें पाठविलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येती । जाइन सामोरा पुढती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I will wait until the Varkaris come. Bowing before them, I will ask for news and messages. I gave them a letter to deliver wherever it was sent. Says Tuka, when they return, I will go forward to welcome them.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I will wait until the Varkaris come. I will bow down to them and ask for news and any message. I gave them a letter to carry wherever it was meant to go. Tuka says: when they come back, I will go forward to meet them.
What it means
Tukaram pictures himself as one left behind, waiting on the road for the Varkaris, the pilgrims who walk to Pandharpur. They are his messengers: he has bowed to them, given them a letter for God, and now he waits for their return with any word back. The longing for God is carried in this very ordinary act of watching for travelers and running out to meet them. It is the patience of someone who has sent his heart ahead and lives for the reply, honoring the pilgrim-saints as the bearers of that exchange.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →