Longing, only a place at your feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं तुह्मां कांहीं लाविलें मागणें । कांटाळ्याच्या भेणें त्रासलेती ॥1॥
एखादिये परी टाळावीं करकर । हा नका विचार देखों कांहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
पायांच्या वियोगें प्राणासवें साटी । ने घवेसी तुटी जाली आतां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मां मागेन तें आतां । हें चि कृपावंता चरणीं वास ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have asked nothing of You, yet You are troubled as though by the prick of thorns. In one way or another, put an end to this friction; let me not see such indifference from You. Separation from Your feet is a contest with life itself; I cannot bear this rupture any longer. Says Tuka, all I shall ask of You now, O gracious one, is to dwell forever at Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have asked you for nothing. Yet you are troubled, as if pricked by thorns. Somehow put an end to this friction. Do not let me see such coldness in you. To be parted from your feet is a fight with my own life. I cannot bear this break any longer. Tuka says: all I will ask you now, gracious one, is to live forever at your feet.
What it means
Tukaram protests that he has made no demands, and still God acts pained, as though his presence were a thorn. He begs that the friction between them be ended somehow, and that he never have to face such indifference. Then he names the cost of separation: being cut off from God's feet is a struggle against life itself, a rupture he cannot endure. He resolves the whole appeal into one request, that he be allowed to dwell forever at those feet, which is the only thing he ever truly wants.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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