Longing, the child asking to be held
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भागलों मी आतां आपुल्या स्वभावें । कृपा करोनि देवें आश्वासीजे ॥1॥
देउनि आलिंगन प्रीतीच्या पडिभरें । अंगें हीं दातारें निववावीं ॥ध्रु.॥
अमृताची दृष्टी घालूनियां वरी । शीतळ हा करीं जीव माझा ॥2॥
घेई उचलूनि पुसें तानभूक । पुसीं माझें मुख पीतांबरें ॥3॥
बुझावोनि माझी धरीं हनुवंटी । ओवाळुनि दिठी करुनी सांडीं ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे बापा आहो विश्वंभरा । आतां कृपा करा ऐसी कांहीं ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am weary now of my own nature, O God. Show me grace and give me reassurance. Embrace me with the rush of love and cool this body of mine, O generous Lord. Cast Your nectar-like gaze upon me and soothe my jiva. Lift me up and ask if I am hungry or thirsty. Wipe my face with Your yellow cloth. Console me and hold my chin, and after warding off the evil eye, let go. Says Tuka, O Father Vishvambhara, now show me some such grace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am worn out now by my own nature, O God. Show grace and speak comfort to me. Embrace me with the full rush of Your love, and cool this body of mine, generous Lord. Cast Your nectar gaze upon me and make my soul cool and still. Lift me up and ask whether I am hungry or thirsty; wipe my face with Your yellow robe. Comfort me, hold my chin, and ward off the evil eye, then set me down. Tuka says: O Father Vishvambhara, show me now some grace like this.
What it means
Tukaram is exhausted, not by the world but by his own nature, and he asks God to do for him what a parent does for a small child. Every request is bodily and tender: be embraced, cooled, looked upon, lifted, fed, wiped clean, soothed, protected from the evil eye. The longing is for closeness and care, not for doctrine or power. By calling God Father and Vishvambhara, the sustainer of all, he stakes a child's whole claim on being held. The poem makes devotion the helplessness of one who can no longer carry himself.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →