Longing, seizing the hem
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोण पर्वकाळ पहासील तीथ । होतें माझें चित्त कासावीस ॥१॥
पाठवीं भातुकें प्रेरीं झडकरी । नको राखों उरी पांडुरंगा ॥ध्रु.॥
न धरावा कोप मजवरी कांहीं । अवगुणी अन्यायी म्हणोनियां ॥२॥
काय रडवीसी नेणतियां पोरां । जाणतियां थोरां याचिपरी ॥३॥
काय उभी कर ठेवुनियां कटीं । बुझावीं धाकुटीं लडिवाळें ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे आतां पदरासी पिळा । घालीन निराळा नव्हे मग ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What auspicious occasion are you waiting for, what pilgrimage date? My chitta has been in agony. Send me the gift of your grace swiftly, O Panduranga; do not hold anything back. Do not be angry with me, even though I am full of faults and offenses. Why do you make innocent children cry, and wise elders too, in this manner? Why do you stand with hands on your hips? Comfort your little darlings instead. Says Tuka, I will now grab hold of the hem of your garment and never let go.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What holy day are you waiting for, what pilgrimage date? My mind is in agony. Send me your gift; send it quickly. Hold nothing back, Panduranga. Do not be angry with me because I am full of faults and wrongs. Why do you make innocent children cry, and wise elders too, the same way? Why do you stand there with your hands on your hips? Comfort your little ones instead. Tuka says: now I have grabbed the hem of your garment. I will not let go.
What it means
Tukaram is impatient and says so plainly, asking why Vitthal keeps delaying grace as if waiting for some special date on the calendar. He admits he is full of faults, but turns that into a reason for mercy rather than a barrier to it. The image of God standing with hands on the hips is Vitthal's famous pose at Pandhari; Tukaram reads it as God holding back, and begs him instead to bend down and comfort his crying children. Then he stops asking and simply takes hold: he grips the hem of Vitthal's garment and declares he will never let go. The prayer ends as a refusal to leave until the embrace comes.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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