Longing, this is my only refuge
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आलों उल्लंघुनि दुःखाचे पर्वत । पायांपाशीं हित तुमच्या तरी ॥1॥
न देखेल लासा दुःखी होतें मन । कठिणें कठिण वाटतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हे सांडी परि वाटतें निरास । न ये माझा दिस संकल्पाचा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मीं सदैव जी देवा । माझ्या हा चि जीवा एक ठाव ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have crossed over mountains of sorrow and come to Your feet, yet even here I find my welfare uncertain. When the jiva cannot see Your presence, it becomes sorrowful, and everything seems impossibly hard. I will not abandon hope, yet it feels like despair. The day of my chitta's fulfillment does not seem to arrive. Says Tuka, You are ever gracious, O God. This alone is the one place for my jiva.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have climbed over mountains of sorrow to reach Your feet, yet even here my good is not certain. When the jiva cannot see You, the mind grows sad and everything feels impossibly hard. I will not give up, but it feels like despair; the day my heart's wish is fulfilled does not come. Tuka says: You are gracious forever, God. This alone is the one place for my soul.
What it means
Tukaram describes arriving at God's feet after crossing whole mountains of grief, only to find that even there his welfare feels uncertain. The pain is the hidden face: when his soul cannot perceive God's presence, the mind sinks and everything turns unbearably hard. He refuses to abandon hope, yet the waiting feels like despair, because the day his longing is satisfied keeps not arriving. He holds on anyway, resting everything on God's enduring grace and on the conviction that this is the single refuge his soul has.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →