Longing, the starving eyes
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मन उताविळ । जालें न राहे निश्चळ ॥1॥
दे रे भेटी पंढरिराया । उभारोनि चारी बाहएा ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्वांग तळमळी । हात पाय रोमावळी ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे कान्हा । भूक लागली नयना॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The mind has become restless and will not remain still. O Lord of Pandhari, grant me Your embrace with arms upraised. Every limb trembles with longing, hands and feet quiver, and the hair stands on end. Says Tuka's brother, O Krishna, my eyes are starving for Your sight.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My mind is restless. It has grown unsteady and will not stay still. Grant me your sight, Lord of Pandhari, with your four arms raised. My whole body trembles; hands and feet shake, and the hair stands on end. Tuka's brother says: O Krishna, my eyes are starving for the sight of you.
What it means
Spoken by Tukaram's brother, this is the cry of a longing the body can no longer contain. The mind has lost its footing and will not be stilled, and so he begs the Lord of Pandhari to appear and embrace him with his four upraised arms. The yearning has become physical: limbs tremble, hands and feet shake, the hair rises on the skin. He names the hunger plainly at the end, calling out to Krishna that his eyes are starving, that nothing but the actual sight of God will feed them.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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