Longing, the form face to face
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आकारवंत मूतिन । जेव्हां देखेन मी दृष्टी ॥1॥
मग मी राहेन निवांत । ठेवूनियां तेथें चित्त ॥ध्रु.॥
श्रुति वाखाणिती । तैसा येसील प्रचिती ॥2॥
ह्मणे तुकयाचा सेवक । उभा देखेन सन्मुख ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When I behold that form with my own eyes, then I shall rest quietly with my mind fixed there. When You come as the scriptures describe You, I shall know You in experience. Says Tuka's servant, I long to see You standing before me face to face.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When I see Your form with shape, with my own eyes, then I will rest quiet, and keep my mind fixed there. Come as the scriptures describe You, and I will know You by experience. Tuka's servant says: I long to see You standing before me, face to face.
What it means
The poet wants God not as a concept but as a presence he can look at. Only when the form stands before his eyes will his restless mind finally settle and stay fixed. He asks that the God the scriptures describe become real to him in direct experience, not just in words. The longing is plain and bodily: to see the Lord standing face to face, close enough to rest in.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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