Longing, why give me eyes to see this
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुह्मी बैसलेती निर्गुणाचे खोळे । आह्मां कां हे डोळे कान दिले ॥1॥
नाइकवे तुझी अपकीिर्त्त देवा । अव्हेरली सेवा न देखवे ॥ध्रु.॥
आपुले पोटीं तों राखियेला वाव । आह्मांसी कां भाव अल्प दिला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दुःखी असें हें कळों द्या । पुढिलिया धंद्या मन नेघे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You sit wrapped in your formless state. Then why did you give us eyes and ears? I cannot bear to hear your glory being dishonored, O God, nor can I watch your service being spurned. You kept plenty of room within your own belly, yet gave us only a meager portion of devotion. Says Tuka, at least let it be known that I am in pain. My mind will not engage with the worldly business that lies ahead.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You sit wrapped in your formless state. Then why did you give us these eyes and ears? I cannot bear to hear your glory dishonored, O God, nor can I watch your service being spurned. You kept plenty of room inside your own belly, yet gave us only a small portion of devotion. Tuka says: at least let it be known that I am in pain. My mind will not turn to the worldly business that lies ahead.
What it means
Tukaram presses a complaint that is really a plea. If God can sit serene and untouched in his formless state, why did he give his devotees eyes and ears that must now witness his glory dishonored and his service spurned? The pain is unbearable precisely because Tukaram loves God; he charges that God held back, keeping vast room within himself while handing the devotee only a meager portion of devotion, not enough to bear what he sees. He asks at least to be heard, to have his pain acknowledged, and he warns that his mind has no appetite left for the ordinary worldly tasks ahead. It is the cry of someone who wants more of God, not less, and blames the smallness of his given love for his distress.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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