Longing, the thread He pulls
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तरि च हा जीव संसारीं उदास । धरिला विश्वास तुह्मां सोई ॥1॥
एके जातीविण नाहीं कळवळा । ओढली गोपाळा सूत्रदोरी ॥ध्रु.॥
फुटतसे प्राण क्षणांच्या विसरें । हें तों परस्परें सारिखें चि ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे चित्तीं राखिला अनुभव । तेणें हा संदेह निवारला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The jiva became disenchanted with worldly life because it placed its trust in You. Without kinship of the same kind, there is no genuine concern; You have pulled the guiding thread, O Gopala. My life breaks apart at even a moment's separation from You; this is true for us both equally. Says Tuka, the experience held within the chitta has dispelled all doubt.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This life turned cold to the world only because it set its trust on You. Without kinship of one kind there is no real ache of care; You have pulled the guiding thread, O Gopala. My breath breaks at even a moment's forgetting of You. This is the same for us both. Tuka says: I have kept the living experience in my heart, and by it this doubt is cleared away.
What it means
Tukaram traces his disenchantment with the world back to its true cause: he turned cold to it only because his trust had already moved to God. He says real concern arises only between those of one kind, and so it is God who has drawn the thread that pulls him, like a puppeteer drawing his own. Then he makes the bold claim that the longing runs both ways, that a moment's forgetting breaks his breath and that this is equally true for God. The close grounds it all not in argument but in lived experience kept in the heart, which has settled the doubt for good.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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