Longing, the wall of separation breaks
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मी देव तुह्मी देव । मध्यें भेव अधीक ॥1॥
कैवाडाच्या धांवा लागें । मागें मागें विठ्ठले ॥ध्रु.॥
भेडसाविलें हाके नादें । वोळखी भेदें मोडिली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे उभा राहे । मागें पाहे परतोनि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You are God, we are God; in between, the sense of separation grows. Through the urgency of this struggle, I follow You relentlessly, O Vitthale. Startled by the sound of my call, the wall of separation has been broken. Says Tuka, stand still and look back at me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You are God, we are God; in the middle, the fear of separation only grows. In the urgency of this struggle I run after You, behind and behind, Vitthale. Startled by the sound of my cry, the wall of difference is broken. Tuka says: stand still, and look back at me.
What it means
Tukaram holds two truths at once: in essence there is no difference between God and the soul, yet in the middle stands the felt fear of being apart, and it keeps growing. So he chases, running behind Vitthal with the desperation of someone who cannot bear the gap. His cry does its work: the sound itself startles God and cracks the wall of separation that the sense of difference had built. The poem ends not in union but in a plea poised right at its edge, asking the fleeing God to stop and turn His face back toward the devotee.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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