Longing, kept dangling by God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐसी वाट पाहे कांहीं निरोप कां मूळ । कंा हे कळवळ तुज उमटे चि ना ॥1॥
आवो पांडुरंगे पंढरीचे निवासे । लावूनियां आस चाळवूनी ठेविलें ॥ध्रु.॥
काय जन्मा येवूनियां केली म्यां जोडी। ऐसें घडीघडी चित्तां येतें आठवूं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे खरा न पवे चि विभाग । धिकारितें जग हें चि लाहों हिशोबें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I wait like this, watching for some message, some word from You. Does no compassion stir in You at all? O Panduranga, Dweller of Pandhari, You stirred my longing and kept me dangling. What have I truly gained by coming into this life? This question returns to the chitta again and again. Says Tuka, the true portion never arrives. The world reviles me; this alone is what I have earned by the reckoning.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I keep watching the road like this. Why no message, why no word? Why does no tenderness for me stir in you at all? O Panduranga, you who dwell in Pandhari, you woke my longing and then left me hanging. What have I really gained by coming into this life? This question comes back to my heart again and again. Tuka says: the true share never reaches me. The world scorns me; by the reckoning, this is all I have earned.
What it means
Tukaram voices the bitterness of unanswered longing, the dark side of devotion. God himself stirred this thirst and then went silent, and Tukaram dares to ask whether any compassion moves in him at all. Left waiting, he questions the worth of his whole life and feels he has gained nothing real by being born. He even counts his account in the negative: the true portion never arrives, and the only thing his devotion has earned him is the world's contempt. The poem does not resolve the complaint; its honesty lies in addressing the protest straight to God rather than turning away from him.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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