Longing, the useless body without God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कासया गा मज घातलें संसारीं । चित्त पायांवरी नाहीं तुझ्या ॥1॥
कासया गा मज घातलें या जन्मा । नाहीं तुझा प्रेमा नित्य नवा ॥ध्रु.॥
तुका ह्मणे माझी जळो जळो काया । विठ्ठला सखया वांचूनियां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why, O Lord, have You cast me into this worldly life when my chitta does not rest upon Your feet? Why have You given me this birth if I do not feel ever-fresh love for You? Says Tuka, let this body of mine burn, burn away, if it be without You, O Vitthal, my beloved friend.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why, O Lord, have you cast me into this worldly life, when my mind does not rest on your feet? Why have you given me this birth, if I have no ever-fresh love for you? Tuka says: let this body of mine burn, burn away, if it is without you, Vitthal, my dear friend.
What it means
Tukaram is pressing a complaint that is really a longing. He asks the Lord why he was thrown into the world and given a birth at all, if his mind will not stay on those feet and his love does not stay ever new. The questions are not idle; they make clear that he sees no point to existence apart from God. The final line is the sharp edge of that ache: he would rather his own body burn to nothing than go on living without Vitthal, the friend he cannot do without.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →