Longing, yearning for the feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कई ऐसी दशा येइल माझ्या आंगा । चित्त पांडुरंगा झुरतसे ॥1॥
नाठवुनि देह पायांचें चिंतन । अवसान तें क्षण नाहीं मधीं ॥ध्रु.॥
काय ऐसा पात्र होईन लाभासी । नेणों हृषीकेशी तुष्टईल ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे धन्य मानीन संचित । घेईन तें नित्य प्रेमसुख ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When will such a state come over my being? My chitta yearns for You, O Panduranga. Forgetting the body, let me contemplate Your feet without a single moment's pause. Will I ever become worthy of such a gain? I do not know if You, O Hrishikesha, will be pleased. Says Tuka, I shall count my past merit blessed if I can take that eternal bliss of love.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When will such a state come over me? My heart is wasting away for You, Panduranga. Let me forget the body and dwell on Your feet, with not one moment's break in between. Will I ever become fit for such a gain? I do not know whether You, O Hrishikesha, will be pleased. Tuka says: I will count my stored merit blessed if I can take that eternal joy of love.
What it means
Tukaram speaks from inside an unfulfilled longing rather than from arrival. His heart is pining for Panduranga, and what he aches for is unbroken contemplation of God's feet, the body forgotten and not a single moment's gap in the attention. He does not presume he deserves it; he openly wonders whether he is worthy and whether Hrishikesha will even be pleased with him. The hope at the end is humble: if all the merit gathered across his life can buy him that one thing, the endless bliss of love, he will count every bit of it well spent.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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