Longing, the hunger that grows
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
खादलें च खावें वाटे । भेटलें भेटे आवडी ॥1॥
वीट नाहीं पांडुरंगीं । वाढे अंगीं आर्त तें ॥ध्रु.॥
इंिद्रयांची हांव पुरे। परि हें उरे चिंतन ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पोट भरे । परि ते उरे भूक पुढें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What has been eaten, one wants to eat again; what has been met, one longs to meet once more. There is no weariness of Panduranga; the yearning only grows in the body. The cravings of the senses eventually subside, but this contemplation endures. Says Tuka, the belly may be filled, yet the hunger remains ahead.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What I have eaten, I want to eat again. Whom I have met, I long to meet once more. There is no growing tired of Panduranga. The ache for him only swells in me. The cravings of the senses wear out in the end, but this remembering does not. Tuka says: the belly gets filled, yet the hunger still waits up ahead.
What it means
Tukaram describes a hunger that runs opposite to every ordinary appetite. With food and with people, having more eventually brings weariness; the senses tire of what they crave. But the longing for Panduranga only deepens the more it is fed, and contemplation of him never goes stale. He sets the two side by side to make the point sharp: bodily hunger is satisfied and ends, while this love is satisfied and grows. The unfilled hunger 'up ahead' is not a lack but the sign of a desire worth keeping.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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