Longing, the lamp kept lit for the road
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
घालूनियां ज्योती । वाट पाहें दिवसराती ॥1॥
बहु उताविळ मन । तुमचें व्हावें दरुषण ॥ध्रु.॥
आलों बोळवीत । तैसें या चि पंथें चित्त ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पेणी । येतां जातां दिवस गणीं॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Keeping the lamp lit, I watch the road day and night. My mind is anxious for Your sight. When I came to see You off, my chitta followed You along that very path. Says Tuka, coming and going, I count the days.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I keep the lamp lit and watch the road day and night. My mind is restless for the sight of you. When I came out to see you off, my mind went with you down that very path. Tuka says: night after night, coming and going, I count the days.
What it means
Tukaram waits like one who keeps a lamp burning in the window for a traveler. Day and night he watches the road, his mind too impatient to settle, hungry for darshan. He recalls walking part of the way to send God off, and how his attention simply followed along that road and never came back. Now he marks each passing day and night, counting toward the return. The poem is pure waiting, the ache of separation measured out in nights.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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