Longing, the hungry child cannot wait
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुकलियां कोमां अत्यंत जळधर । तेणें च प्रकार न्याय असे ॥1॥
न चलें पाउलीं सांडीं गरुडासन । मनाचें हो मन त्वरेलागीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भूक न साहावे बाळा । जीवनांची कळा ओढलीसे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
To dried-up sprouts, the rain cloud is everything; the same principle of justice applies here. If walking on foot is too slow, abandon even the eagle's seat. Let the mind become swifter than itself for the sake of urgency. Says Tuka, a hungry child cannot endure; the art of sustaining life has been stretched to its limit.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To withered sprouts the rain cloud is everything. The same law of fairness holds for me. If coming on foot is too slow, then leave even the eagle mount behind. Mind, become swifter than the mind itself, for the sake of haste. Tuka says: a hungry child cannot bear it. The thread of my life is stretched to its limit.
What it means
Tukaram pleads for God to come fast, with the urgency of one near collapse. He likens himself to dried sprouts for whom the rain cloud is life or death, and claims the same simple justice: a withering soul deserves rain. He tells God that walking is too slow, and that even Garuda, the eagle that carries Vishnu, is not fast enough; let the mind itself outrun the mind. He ends with the image that names the stakes: he is a starving child who cannot endure another moment, and the very thread of his life is pulled taut to breaking.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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