Longing, clasping the feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां आहे नाहीं । न कळे आळी करा कांहीं ॥1॥
देसी पुरवुनी इच्छा । आतां पंढरीनिवासा ॥ध्रु.॥
नेणे भाग सीण । दुजें कोणी तुह्मांविण ॥2॥
आतां नव्हे दुरी । तुका पायीं मिठी मारी॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It is uncertain now whether I shall survive or not; please grant some favor. Fulfill my longing now, O dweller of Pandhari. I know no weariness or suffering other than separation from You. Says Tuka, no more distance now; I clasp Your feet in a tight embrace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now I do not know if I will live or not. I do not understand; do something about my plea. Fulfill my longing now, dweller of Pandhari. I know no other weariness, no other pain, than being apart from you. Tuka says: now there is no distance. I throw my arms around your feet and hold them tight.
What it means
This is a prayer made at the edge of survival, where the only ache that counts is separation from God. Tukaram tells the dweller of Pandhari that he no longer knows whether he will live, and he asks Vitthal to act on his plea and fulfill his longing. He names his one grief plainly: he knows no weariness or suffering except being apart from the Lord. So he closes the gap himself, clasping the feet in a tight embrace so that no distance can remain.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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