Longing for the company of devotees
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझिये जातीचें मज भेटो कोणी । आवडीची धणी फेडावया ॥1॥
आवडे ज्या हरि अंतरापासूनि । ऐसियाचे मनीं आर्त माझें ॥ध्रु.॥
तयालागीं जीव होतो कासावीस । पाहातील वास नयन हे ॥2॥
सुफळ हा जन्म होईल तेथून । देतां आलिंगन वैष्णवांसी ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तो चि सुदिन सोहळा । गाऊं या गोपाळा धणीवरि ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let someone of my own kind meet me, so that the thirst of my love may be quenched. My mind yearns for one who loves Hari from the depths of the jiva. For such a one, my life grows restless; my eyes watch and wait for their coming. This birth will be fulfilled from the moment I embrace the Vaishnavas. Says Tuka, that alone is the blessed day of celebration: to sing of the cowherd Lord to our full satisfaction.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let someone of my own kind meet me, so the thirst of my love can be quenched. My mind yearns for one who loves Hari from the depths of the jiva. For such a one my life grows restless; my eyes keep watch for their coming. This birth will be made fruitful from the moment I embrace the Vaishnavas. Tuka says: that alone is the blessed day of festival, to sing of the cowherd Lord, Gopal, to our heart's content.
What it means
Tukaram is homesick for his own kind. The thirst he names is not for God directly but for another person who loves Hari from the very depths of the soul, because only such company can satisfy a love that has nowhere else to spend itself. His restlessness is physical: his eyes literally watch the road for that meeting. He stakes the worth of his whole birth on the embrace of fellow devotees, the Vaishnavas. And the true festival, he says, is not a rite but the day they can sing of Gopal together until the longing is finally full. The poem honors holy company as the thing that completes a life.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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