Abhanga 3896
Tukaram longs for God with the simple, unguarded intimacy of a mother and child sharing a meal, and asks only that the meeting come quickly.
The verse
भेटीवांचोनियां दुजें नाहीं चित्तीं । येणें काकुलती याजसाटीं ॥१॥
भेटोनियां बोलें आवडीचें गुज । आनंदाच्या भोजें जेवूं संगें ॥ध्रु.॥
मायलेकरासीं नाहीं दुजी परि । जेऊं बरोबरी बैसोनियां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसें अंतरींचें आर्त । यावें जी त्वरित नारायणा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Only-bhēṭi-in-chitta — this-kākulati-for-it. Meeting — speak-guja-of-āvaḍī — eat-ānanda-bhōja-together. Mother-and-child-no-other-sort — eat-side-by-side. Tukā: antara-ārta — come-quickly-Nārāyaṇa.
What it means
A 3-verse mother-and-child eating-together image. Apart from the meeting, there's nothing else in my mind — that's why this plaintive-pleading. On meeting, let us speak the gem-secret of love — let us feast together on the ānanda-meal. Mother-and-child have no other way — let us eat seated side-by-side. Such is my inner-yearning — come quickly, Nārāyaṇa. The image of mother-and-child-eating-side-by-side is gentle, domestic — and the most-intimate-meal-image possible (a young child fed by the mother, often eating from the same plate). Compare 2806 (Hari-chintana-bhojana — pure-food-when-eaten-in-Hari-chintana).
For someone today
Tukaram says there is nothing else on his mind besides simply being with God, and that longing is why he pleads so openly. He imagines that meeting not as something formal but as sitting down together and sharing a meal, trading words of love the way close friends do. He compares it to a mother and child eating side by side, the most natural and unguarded closeness there is. His prayer is simple: come quickly, don't make me wait.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की देवाच्या भेटीशिवाय त्यांच्या मनात दुसरे काहीच नाही, आणि याच ओढीमुळे ते इतक्या आर्ततेने विनवणी करतात. ती भेट म्हणजे काही औपचारिक गोष्ट नाही, तर एकत्र बसून जेवण करणे, प्रेमाच्या गोष्टी बोलणे असे ते कल्पितात. आई आणि मूल जसे शेजारी बसून जेवतात तशी ही सहज आणि निर्व्याज जवळीक आहे. त्यांची प्रार्थना साधी आहे, लवकर ये, वाट पाहायला लावू नकोस.
Where this applies
- When you miss someone so much that nothing else can hold your attention
- When you want closeness with God to feel as ordinary and warm as a shared family meal
- When you find yourself pleading rather than politely asking for what your heart wants
- When you think of the safest kind of love you know, like a mother feeding her child, and wish for that same ease with the divine