Longing for the Mother, unbearable separation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धांव घालीं आई । आतां पाहातेसी काई ॥1॥
धीर नाहीं माझे पोटीं । जालें वियोगें हिंपुटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
करावें सीतळ । बहु जाली हळहळ ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे डोई । कधीं ठेवीन हे पायीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Rush to me, O Mother. What are you waiting for? I have no patience left within me; separation has made me utterly forlorn. Cool this burning pain; the anguish has grown unbearable. Says Tuka, when will I lay this head at Your feet?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Come running, O Mother. What are you waiting for now? There is no patience left inside me. This separation has worn me down. Cool this burning. The ache has grown too great. Tuka says: when will I lay this head down at your feet?
What it means
Tukaram cries out to God as Mother, demanding she stop delaying and come at once. He says he has no patience left and that being apart has worn him to nothing. The pain is a burning he begs her to cool, because the ache has passed what he can bear. The poem ends not in despair but in one waiting question: when will he finally rest his head at her feet, which is the only thing that would end the longing.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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