Longing, when will You meet me
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कटावरी कर कासया ठेविले । जननी विठ्ठले जीवलगे॥1॥
शंखचक्रगदाकमळमंडित । आयुधें मंडित कृष्णाबाई॥ध्रु.॥
क्षण एक धीर होत नाहीं चित्ता । केव्हां पंढरिनाथा भेटशील ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे हें चि करीं देई । तई च विश्रामा पावईन॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why have You placed Your hands on Your hips, O Mother Vitthale, O beloved one? Adorned with conch, discus, mace, and lotus, arrayed with sacred weapons, O Krishnabai. Not for a moment can my heart find peace. When will You meet me, O Lord of Pandhari? Says Tuka, grant me this one thing, and only then shall I find rest.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why have You set Your hands upon Your hips, Mother Vitthale, dear one? Adorned with conch and discus and mace and lotus, arrayed with Your weapons, O Krishnabai. Not for a single moment can my heart hold steady. When will You meet me, Lord of Pandhari? Tuka says: grant me just this one thing, and only then will I find rest.
What it means
Tukaram gazes at the standing image of Vitthal, hands on hips, holding the conch, discus, mace, and lotus, and addresses Him as Mother. The beauty of the form only sharpens his impatience: his heart cannot stay calm even for a moment while the meeting is withheld. So the prayer narrows to a single question and a single request, when will You meet me, and grant me only this. He says his rest depends on nothing else; until the meeting comes, there is no peace.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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