Longing, sleepless for the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संतांचा पढीयावो कैशापरि लाहो । नामाचा आठवो कैसा राहे ॥1॥
हे चि थोर चिंता लागली मनासी । निजतां निद्रेसी न लगे डोळा ॥ध्रु.॥
जेवितां जेवणीं न लगे गोड धड । वाटतें काबाड विषयसुख ॥2॥
ऐसिया संकटीं पाव कृपानिधी । लावीं संतपदीं प्रेमभावें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मीं नेणों कांहीं हित । तुजविण अनाथ पांडुरंगा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How may I earn the companionship of saints? How may the remembrance of the Name stay with me always? This great anxiety has seized my mind; even at night, sleep does not come. While eating, nothing tastes good; sensory pleasure feels like drudgery. In such distress, come to my rescue, O treasure of mercy, and attach me to the feet of saints with bonds of love. Says Tuka, I know nothing of what is good for me. Without You, I am an orphan, O Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How am I to win the company of the saints? How can the remembrance of the Name stay with me always? This one great anxiety has seized my mind; when I lie down, sleep will not come to my eyes. At meals nothing tastes sweet or right; the pleasures of the senses feel like drudgery. In such distress, come to my rescue, treasure of mercy; bind me to the feet of the saints with love. Tuka says: I know nothing of what is good for me. Without You I am an orphan, Panduranga.
What it means
This is the cry of holy longing turned inward as restlessness. Tukaram cannot rest until he gains the company of saints and a remembrance of the Name that never slips; the wanting keeps him from sleep and takes the savor out of food, while ordinary pleasures now feel like a burden. He turns the whole ache into a prayer, asking the merciful Lord to rescue him and tie him with love to the saints' feet. The closing confession names the stakes honestly: he does not even know what is truly good for him, and without Panduranga he is simply an orphan, helpless and unclaimed.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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