Longing, calling the Mother to run
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चालवणें काय । ऐसें अंगे माझे माय ॥1॥
धांव धांव लवलाहें । कंठीं प्राण वाट पाहे ॥ध्रु.॥
पसरूनि कर । तुज चालिलों समोर ॥2॥
देसील विसांवा । तुका ह्मणे ऐशा हांवा॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How can I keep walking, O Mother, with a body such as mine? Run, run to me quickly! My life breath watches the road for You. I come toward You with arms outstretched. Says Tuka, will You grant me rest? That is my only yearning.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How can I keep walking, O Mother, with a body like mine? Run, run quickly. My life breath is at my throat, watching the road for you. With arms spread wide I come toward you. Will you give me rest? Tuka says: this is my whole longing.
What it means
Tukaram cries out to God as a mother, confessing that his worn body cannot carry him any further. He begs her to run to him quickly, because his very life breath has risen to his throat and waits on the road for her coming. He comes with arms spread wide, the posture of a child reaching to be lifted. The single thing he asks is rest, to be received and carried instead of struggling on, and he says plainly that this longing for the Mother's arms is the whole of his desire.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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