Longing, the form not the void
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोरडिया गोष्टी नावडती मना । नाहीं ब्रह्मज्ञानाविण चाड ॥1॥
दाखवीं आपुलें सगुण रूपडें । वंदीन मी कोडें पाय तुझे ॥ध्रु.॥
न लगे तो मोक्ष मज सायुज्यता । नावडे हे वार्ता शून्याकारी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे चाड धरीन श्रीमुखें । येशिल कवतुकें जवळीक ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Dry, empty talk does not please the mind. Without the direct knowledge of Brahman, I have no interest. Show me Your form in its fullness; I will bow at Your feet with delight. I do not want mere liberation or formless union. The talk of the void does not appeal to me. Says Tuka, I will be satisfied only when You come near me with playful affection, and I behold Your face.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Dry talk does not please my mind. Without the knowledge of Brahman I have no desire. Show me Your form with all its qualities; I will gladly bow at Your feet. I do not want that liberation, that merging into You. I do not like this talk of the void. Tuka says: I will keep my longing for Your blessed face. You will come near me in play.
What it means
Tukaram refuses dry doctrine and the bare abstractions that promise union by erasing the lover. He asks instead for the saguna form, the Lord with shape and qualities, so that he can bow and behold a face. The radical turn is that he sets aside even moksha and sayujya, absorption into God, which most seekers treat as the highest prize. Talk of the void leaves him cold because it dissolves the very relationship he wants. He holds out for the personal: the blessed face, the God who comes near in playful affection rather than swallowing the devotee into formlessness.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →