Bold love, claiming the share
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मागतां विभाग । कोठें लपाल जी मग ॥1॥
संत साक्षी या वचना । त्यांसी ठाउकिया खुणा ॥ध्रु.॥
होइन धरणेकरी। मग मी रिघों नेदीं बाहेरी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मी अक्षर । तुज देवपणाचा भार ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When I come to claim my share, where will You hide? The saints are witnesses to these words; they know the secret signs. I will sit in protest and not let You out. Says Tuka, I am the imperishable one, and the burden of Your Godhood rests on You.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When I come to claim my share, where will you hide then? The saints are witness to these words; they know the secret signs. I will sit at your door in protest and not let you slip out. Tuka says: I am the imperishable one, and the burden of being God rests on you.
What it means
Tukaram presses his claim on God like a creditor with a rightful debt. He insists he has a share owed to him and asks where God could possibly hide once he comes to collect, with the saints standing as witnesses who know the secret marks of this bond. He threatens a sit-in at the door, refusing to let God escape until the claim is met. His closing turn is daring: the devotee is the deathless self, while the very work of being God, of answering and providing, is laid squarely on God's own shoulders.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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