Longing, no skill but love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाही बळयोग अभ्यास कराया । न कळे ते क्रिया साधनाची ॥1॥
तुझिये भेटीचें प्रेम अंतरंगीं । नाहीं बळ अंगीं भजनाचें ॥ध्रु.॥
काय पांडुरंगा करूं बा विचार । झुरतें अंतर भेटावया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सांगा वडिलपणें बुद्धी । तुजविण दयानिधी पुसों कोणां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have no strength for yoga or spiritual practice; I do not understand the methods of discipline. Within my chitta there is longing to meet You, but I lack the strength for formal worship. What shall I do, O Panduranga? My inner being yearns to meet You. Says Tuka, counsel me with the wisdom of an elder. Apart from You, O Treasure of mercy, whom shall I ask?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have no strength for yoga, no power to keep up the practice. I do not understand the methods of discipline. In my heart there is love that longs to meet You. But in my body there is no strength for formal worship. What shall I do, O Panduranga? My inner being pines to meet You. Tuka says: counsel me as an elder would. Apart from You, O Treasure of mercy, whom shall I ask?
What it means
Tukaram lays out exactly what he lacks: no aptitude for yoga, no stamina for disciplined practice, no grasp of the formal methods that are supposed to reach God. What he does have is the only thing he cannot manufacture, a heart that aches to meet the Lord. The poem sets that pure longing against his complete incapacity and makes the incapacity the whole appeal. Then he asks God himself for the guidance a wise elder would give, because the usual sources of help are exactly what he has just confessed he cannot use. With no method and no teacher left, he has nowhere to turn but to the one he longs for.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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