Longing, the universe gone empty
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय करूं जीव होतो कासावीस । कोंडलिये दिस गमे चि ना ॥1॥
पडिलें हें दिसे ब्रह्मांड चि वोस । दाटोनि उच्छ्वास राहातसे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आगा सर्वजाणतिया । विश्वंभरें काया निववावी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What can I do? My life is suffocating; these imprisoned days feel unending. The entire universe appears empty and desolate; my very breath feels choked. Says Tuka, O all-knowing One, O Lord of the Universe, cool this burning body.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What can I do? My soul is in agony. These shut-in days will not pass. The whole universe looks empty and barren to me. My breath chokes and will not move freely. Tuka says: O all-knowing one, O Lord of the Universe, cool this burning body.
What it means
This is the cry of a soul that cannot find God and cannot bear the waiting. Tukaram is suffocating; the days of separation feel like a prison that will not end. Without God present, the entire cosmos seems hollow and dead, and even his breath comes choked. He has no remedy of his own, so he turns it all over to the one who knows everything. His only plea is for relief: that the Lord of the Universe come and cool a body that is burning with longing.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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