Bold prayer, indignant at others' pain
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बोलतों निकुरें । नव्हेत सलगीचीं उत्तरें ॥1॥
माझे संतापलें मन । परपीडा ऐकोन ॥ध्रु.॥
अंगावरि आलें । तोंवरि जाईल सोसिलें ॥2॥
तुज भक्तांची आण देवा । जरि तुका येथें ठेवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I speak with bluntness. These are not the easy words of familiarity. My mind is enraged at hearing of the suffering of others. Whatever has fallen upon me, I have endured until now. Says Tuka, I swear by Your devotees, O God: if You mean to keep Tuka here, then You must act.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am speaking bluntly. These are not the soft words of friendship. My mind is on fire when I hear of the suffering of others. Whatever has come upon me, I have borne it until now. Tuka says: I swear to you by your devotees, God: if you mean to keep Tuka here, then act.
What it means
Tukaram drops the easy tone of a familiar friend and speaks to God without softening. What enrages him is not his own pain, which he has endured in silence, but the suffering of other people. He makes that the ground of a demand: he will not stay quiet and polite while others are crushed. The oath sworn by God's own devotees is his most binding form of pleading, and the stakes are plain: if God wants Tuka to keep living and serving here, then God must intervene and end the suffering he cannot bear to watch.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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