Longing, come quickly
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां काशासाटीं दुरी । अंतर उरी राखिली ॥1॥
करीं लवकरी मुळ । लहानें तीळ मुळीचिया ॥ध्रु.॥
दोहीं ठायीं उदेगवाणें । दरुषणें नििंश्चती ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वेग व्हावा । ऐसी जीवा उत्कंठा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why now keep distance and hold back the chitta? Come quickly and settle this at the root, making the small into the least of concerns. On both sides there is restless longing; only Your vision will bring certainty. Says Tuka, let there be haste, for such is the eagerness of my jiva.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why now keep your distance? Why hold a gap between us? Come quickly to the root; let the small things be the least of it. On both sides there is restless longing. Only your sight will settle it. Tuka says: let there be haste. Such is the eagerness in my soul.
What it means
Tukaram is impatient for God and cannot understand why any distance is still kept between them. He begs God to come straight to the root of the matter and let the small concerns shrink to nothing. He claims the longing runs both ways, that both sides ache, and that only the actual sight of God will bring certainty and rest. The poem closes on urgency: he names the eagerness in his own soul and asks God to hurry. It is the prayer of a lover who wants the waiting to end now.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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