Longing, draw aside the curtain
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
स्वप्नींचें हें धन हातीं ना पदरीं । प्रत्यक्ष कां हरि होऊं नये ॥1॥
बोलोनियां फेडा जीवींची काजळी । पाहेन कोमळीं चरणांबुजें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझ्या जीवींचिया जीवा । सारूनियां ठेवा पडदा आतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The wealth of a dream is neither in the hand nor in the pocket. Why can You not become directly present, O Hari? Speak and wipe away the darkness from my heart. Let me behold Your tender lotus feet. Says Tuka, O life of my life, now draw aside the curtain and put away all that is stored.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The wealth of a dream is not in the hand or in the lap. Why will You not become real before me, Hari? Speak, and wipe the soot from my heart. Let me see Your soft lotus feet. Tuka says: life of my life, push aside the curtain now. Set aside all that is hidden away.
What it means
Tukaram complains that an unseen God is like dream-wealth, real-seeming but impossible to hold, and he wants the real thing in plain sight. He asks Hari to become present and to speak, because a word from God would scour away the grime darkening his heart. The longing is to behold the tender lotus feet directly, not in imagination. The final image makes the request intimate and urgent: God is the life of his life, and Tuka asks Him to draw back the curtain and stop withholding what is just on the other side.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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