Longing, the mind that runs to God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तळमळी चित्त दर्शनाची आशा । बहु जगदीशा करुणा केली ॥1॥
वचनीं च संत पावले स्वरूप । माझें नेदी पाप योगा येऊं ॥ध्रु.॥
वेठीऐसा करीं भक्तिवेवसाव । न पवे चि जीव समाधान ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कई देसील विसांवा । पांडुरंगे धांवा घेतें मन ॥3॥ ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My chitta aches with longing for Your vision. O Lord of the universe, You have shown great mercy. The saints have attained Your form through words alone, but my sins will not let me come near. I serve You as if under forced labor, yet my jiva finds no peace. Says Tuka, when will You give rest? O Panduranga, my mind runs toward You.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My mind aches with longing to see You. O Lord of the universe, You have shown me great mercy. The saints reached Your very form through their words alone; but my sin will not let me come near. I serve You like a laborer pressed into work, and still my soul finds no peace. Tuka says: when will You give me rest? O Panduranga, my mind runs to You.
What it means
Tukaram is praying out of a restless, aching desire to see God's form, and he holds two truths together without resolving them. He grants that God has been merciful and that the saints attained that form through words; yet he feels his own sin barring him from coming close. His service feels like forced labor rather than love, so his soul finds no rest, and the whole poem strains toward one question: when will God grant relief? He ends not in despair but in motion, his mind running toward Panduranga even while peace is withheld.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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