Intimacy, welcoming God home
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चाल घरा उभा राहें नारायणा । ठेवूं दे चरणांवरि माथा ॥1॥
वेळोवेळां देई क्षेमआलिंगन । वरी अवलोकन कृपादृष्टी॥ध्रु.॥
प्रक्षाळूं दे पाय बैसें माजघरीं । चित्त िस्थर करीं पांडुरंगा ॥2॥
आहे त्या संचितें करवीन भोजन । काय न जेवून करिसी आतां ॥3॥
करुणाकरें नाहीं कळों दिलें वर्म । दुरी होतां भ्रम कोण वारी ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां आवडीच्या सत्ता । बोलिलों अनंता करवीन तें ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Come home, O Narayana; stand still and let me place my head upon Your feet. Again and again grant me Your loving embrace and look upon me with Your merciful gaze. Let me wash Your feet and seat You in the inner chamber; steady my chitta, O Panduranga. I will feed You with whatever provisions I have; will You not dine now? O compassionate one, You have not revealed the secret; when You are far, who dispels my confusion? Says Tuka, empowered by love, whatever I have spoken, O Ananta, I will bring to pass.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Come into the house, Narayana; stand here and let me lay my head on your feet. Again and again give me your embrace of welcome, and look down on me with your merciful gaze. Let me wash your feet and seat you in the inner room; steady my mind, Panduranga. I will cook you a meal from whatever I have stored; why would you not eat now? O merciful one, you have not let me know the secret; when you stay far off, who clears away my confusion? Tuka says: now, by the authority of love, whatever I have said, O Ananta, I will make you do.
What it means
Tukaram treats God not as a distant deity but as a guest he is welcoming into his own home, and he runs through the whole hospitality: head at the feet, repeated embraces, washing the feet, seating God in the innermost room, cooking and serving a meal. The point of all this nearness is one thing he asks for in the middle, that God steady his restless mind. He gently scolds God too, noting that as long as God keeps his distance and withholds the secret, the devotee's confusion has no one to dispel it. The closing line is bold and tender at once: love itself gives him the right to command, and he insists that God will do what he has asked.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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