Longing, the impatient child at feast-time
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तांतडीनें आह्मां धीर चि न कळे । पाळावे हे लळे लवलाहीं ॥1॥
नका कांहीं पाहों सावकाशीं देवा । करा एक हेवा तुमचा माझा ॥ध्रु.॥
वोरसाचा हेवा सांभाळावी प्रीत । नाहीं राहों येत अंगीं सदा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मज नका गोवूं खेळा । भोजनाची वेळा राखियेली ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In my urgency I cannot even muster patience. Indulge my childish demands quickly, O God. Do not keep me waiting at Your leisure. Let there be a sweet rivalry of love between us. Nurture this affection with the care of intimate kinship; love cannot stay contained within the body forever. Says Tuka, do not detain me in idle play; the hour of the feast has been set.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In my hurry I cannot even hold any patience; satisfy these childish demands of mine at once. Do not take Your time, God; make this one a shared longing, Yours and mine. Keep this overflowing love alive; it cannot stay shut inside the body forever. Tuka says: do not tangle me in idle play; the hour of the feast has been set.
What it means
Tukaram comes to God with frank impatience, unable to summon any composure and demanding that his childlike cravings be met now, not at God's leisure. He wants the longing to be mutual, a love that both of them share rather than one that he alone carries. He warns that this kind of overflowing affection cannot be bottled inside the body indefinitely; it must be answered. His closing image is of a feast whose hour is fixed: he asks God not to detain him in pointless games, because the appointed time for the meeting and its nourishment has already come.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →