Longing, the child who need not explain
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आळी करावी ते कळतें बाळका । बुझवावें हें कां नेणां तुह्मी ॥1॥
निवाड तो तेथें असे पायांपाशीं । तुह्मांआह्मांविशीं एकेठायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
आणीक तों आह्मी न देखोंसें जालें । जाणावें शिणलें भागलेंसें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मां लागतें सांगावें । अंतरींचें ठावें काय नाहीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A child's fussing is understood by the parent; why do You not know how to console me? The settlement of our matter lies there at Your feet, where You and I come together in one place. I can see nothing else anymore; know that I am exhausted and spent. Says Tuka, must I keep telling You? Do You not already know what lies within my chitta?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A parent understands a child's fussing; why do You not know how to soothe me? The whole matter is settled there at Your feet, where You and I come together in one place. I can see nothing else now; know that I am worn out and spent. Tuka says: must I keep saying it? Do You not already know what is in my heart?
What it means
Tukaram presses God with the logic of a child before a parent: a child does not have to explain its crying, because the parent simply knows, so why must the devotee spell out his need? He insists that the only place his case can be settled is at God's feet, the one spot where the two of them are truly together. He has stopped looking anywhere else and confesses he is exhausted from the longing. The poem leans on intimacy as its argument: a love this close should not require words, and he gently rebukes God for making him beg what God already reads in his heart.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →