Union and longing held together
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अनुभवा आलें । माझें चित्तींचें क्षरलें ॥1॥
असे जवळी अंतर । फिरे आवडीच्या फेरें ॥ध्रु.॥
खादलें चि वाटे । खावें भेटलें चि भेटे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे उभें । आह्मी राखियेलें लोभें॥3॥ ॥10॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What was hidden in my chitta has now come to experience and dissolved. He stays near, yet there remains a distance, for He circles around in the orbit of love. Whatever is eaten still feels like it should be eaten more; whatever is met still longs to be met again. Says Tuka, we have kept Him standing before us, held fast by our longing.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What lay hidden in my heart has come into experience and dissolved. He is near, deep inside, yet a distance remains, for He keeps circling in the orbit of love. What I have eaten, I still want to eat; whom I have met, I still long to meet. Tuka says: we have kept Him standing before us, held fast by our longing.
What it means
Tukaram describes a meeting with Vitthal that is also still a hunger. The thing buried in his mind has surfaced into living experience and melted away, so the barrier is gone; yet he insists a sweet distance remains, because love keeps moving in circles around its object and never settles into mere possession. This is why the taste does not end the appetite: every eating asks to eat again, every meeting asks to meet again. The closing claim is bold. It is not God who holds the devotee, but the devotee's own longing that keeps God standing there before him.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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