Holy stubbornness, refusing every payoff
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मी जाणों तुझा भाव । दृढ धरियेले पाव ॥1॥
फांकुं नेदूं चुकावितां । नेघों थोडें बहु देतां ॥ध्रु.॥
बहुता दिसाचें लिगाड । आलें होत होत जड ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां । नेघें सर्वस्व ही देतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We know Your nature. We have seized Your feet firmly. We will not be shaken loose when You try to slip away; we will not accept the little, even when You offer much. This entanglement has gone on for many days and grown heavy. Says Tuka, now I will not accept even all that You have to give.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We know your nature. We have seized your feet and hold them firm. We will not be shaken loose when you try to slip away. We will not take the little, even when you offer much. This entanglement has dragged on for many days and grown heavy. Tuka says: now I will not accept even everything you have to give.
What it means
Tukaram and his companions have caught on to God's evasive ways and decided to outlast them, gripping his feet and refusing to be shaken off no matter how he tries to slip free. They will not be bought off with small consolations, even generous ones, because those are not what they came for. The long entanglement has become heavy, and so the demand sharpens to its extreme: he wants neither little nor much, not even all that God could give. What he is holding out for is God himself, the giver and not the gifts, and nothing less than that will release his grip.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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