Longing, the Mother's milk of love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पांडुरंगे पांडुरंगे । माझे गंगे माउलिये ॥1॥
पान्हां घाली प्रेमधारा । पूर क्षीरा लोटों दे ॥ध्रु.॥
अंगें अंग मेळउनी । करीं धणी फेडाया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे घेइन उडएा । सांडिन कुडएा भावना॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O Panduranga, O Panduranga, my Ganga, my Mother. Pour forth the stream of love; let the flood of milk flow freely. Press Your body against mine and satisfy this longing fully. Says Tuka, I shall take the leap and abandon all false pretenses.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Panduranga, Panduranga, my Ganga, my Mother. Let down your milk, the stream of love; let the flood of it pour over me freely. Press your body against mine and satisfy this longing fully. Tuka says: I will take the leap. I will throw away all my false pretenses.
What it means
Tukaram prays to Panduranga not as a distant lord but as mother and sacred river at once, the source he drinks from. He asks for the milk of love to be let down as a nursing mother lets it down, a flood he wants poured over him without measure, and for the closeness of body against body that finally satisfies the longing. The last line names the cost on his side: he will leap, and in leaping he will let go of every false front he has been holding up. The prayer is for union so complete that pretense simply falls away.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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