Abhanga 3893
Tukaram compares his longing for God to a starving person seeing food or a cat fixed on a ball of butter, an intense, focused hunger ready to pounce.
The verse
क्षुधारथी अन्नें दुष्काळें पीडिलें । मिष्टान्न देखिलें तेणें जैसें ॥१॥
तैसें तुझे पायीं लांचावलें मन । झुरे माझा प्राण भेटावया ॥ध्रु.॥
मांजरें देखिला लोणियांचा गोळा । लावुनियां डोळा बैसलेंसे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आतां झडी घालूं पाहें । पांडुरंगे माये तुझे पायीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Hungry-in-famine — sees-miṣṭāna. So-mind-lāñchāvalē-at-your-feet — prāṇa-pines-for-bhēṭi. Cat-sees-loṇī-ball — fixes-eye-and-sits. Tukā: now-I'll-pounce — Pāṇḍurangē-māye-at-your-feet.
What it means
A 3-verse striking-image yearning text. As one afflicted by famine and starving for food, seeing fine-food (gets dazzled). So my mind is itchy-with-greed at your feet; my breath pines for the meeting. A cat has seen a butter-ball — has fixed its eye and sat (still as a hunter). Now I will pounce — at your feet, Pāṇḍurangē-māyē. The cat-and-butter-ball image is uniquely domestic — anyone who has watched a cat fix its predator-gaze on a target knows the absolute-focus this image captures. The bhakta is the predator-cat; the Lord-as-butter-ball is the prey.
For someone today
Tukaram compares his longing for God to a hunger no ordinary desire matches: like someone starving through a famine who suddenly sees a plate of rich food, his mind becomes helplessly fixated the moment it turns toward God. He describes his own breath aching, quite literally pining, just for the chance of that meeting. He paints it even more vividly with a cat that spots a ball of butter and freezes, eyes locked, utterly still, before it strikes. Tukaram says he is exactly like that cat now, coiled and focused, ready to pounce toward Panduranga's feet.
मराठी: तुकाराम त्यांची देवाबद्दलची ओढ अशा भुकेशी जोडतात जिच्याशी कोणतीही सामान्य इच्छा बरोबरी करू शकत नाही: दुष्काळात उपाशी असलेल्या माणसाला जसे स्वादिष्ट अन्न दिसताच त्याचे मन त्यावर खिळते, तसेच त्यांचे मन देवाच्या चरणांकडे वळताच लोभावते. त्यांचा प्राण त्या भेटीसाठी तळमळत असल्याचे ते सांगतात. मांजराने लोण्याचा गोळा पाहून डोळा स्थिर करून बसावे, अगदी शांत, हल्ला करण्याआधीच्या तयारीत, अशा आणखी ठळक प्रतिमेने ते हे स्पष्ट करतात. तुकाराम म्हणतात की आता ते त्या मांजरासारखेच आहेत, पूर्ण एकाग्र, पांडुरंगाच्या चरणांवर झेप घेण्यास सज्ज.
Where this applies
- When you feel a longing so intense it consumes your attention completely, like real hunger
- When you're utterly focused on one goal or person, unable to think about anything else
- When you recognize that same predatory focus in yourself while waiting for a long-awaited reunion
- When ordinary desires feel weak compared to how badly you want this one particular thing