Longing, the child crying for the breast
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझिया तो जीवें घेतला हा सोस । पाहें तुझी वास भेटावया ॥1॥
मातेविण बाळ न मनी आणिका । सर्वकाळ धोका स्तनपाना ॥ध्रु.॥
वोसंगा निघाल्या वांचूनि न राहे । त्याचें आर्त माय पुरवीते ॥2॥
तुका म्हणे माते भक्तां तूं कृपाळ । गिळियेले जाळ वनांतरीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My jiva has taken up this longing to meet You; I watch and wait for You. A child does not accept anyone other than its mother; its only anxiety is for the breast. Until it is taken into her lap, it will not rest; the mother fulfills its every cry. Says Tuka, O Mother, You are compassionate to Your devotees. You swallowed the forest fire for their sake.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My whole soul has taken up this longing: I watch and wait to meet You. A child wants no one but its mother; its only worry, all day long, is the breast. It will not rest until it is taken into her lap, and the mother answers its every cry. Tuka says: O Mother, You are merciful to Your devotees. You swallowed the forest fire to save them.
What it means
Tuka prays to God as Mother and makes himself the nursing child. His whole being has fixed on one longing, to meet God, the way an infant accepts no substitute for its mother and frets all day for nothing but the breast. The child will not be quieted until it is gathered into her lap, and a true mother meets every cry; so Tuka asks the same nearness and the same response from God. He grounds his trust in the divine record of rescue, recalling that this Mother once swallowed the forest fire to save the cowherds and cattle, the deed of Krishna at Vrindavan. The plea is simple: be to me what a mother is to her child, and you have already proved you will.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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