Longing, the Lord who will not come
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोठें गुंतलासी कोणांच्या धांवया । आली देवराया निद्रा तुज ॥1॥
कोठें गुंतलासी भक्तिप्रेमसुखें । न सुटेती मुखें गोपिकांचीं ॥ध्रु.॥
काय पडिलें तुज कोणाचें संकट । दुरी पंथ वाट न चालवे ॥2॥
काय माझे तुज गुण दोष दिसती । ह्मणोनि श्रीपती कोपलासी ॥3॥
काय जालें सांग माझिया कपाळा । उरला जीव डोळां तुका ह्मणे ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Where are you caught up? Whose calls are you answering? Has sleep overtaken you, O Lord? Are you entangled in the love of your devotees, unable to free yourself from the gopis' embrace? Has someone else's crisis captured your attention? Is the road too long and difficult to walk? Do you see faults in me, and is that why you are angry, O Shripati? Says Tuka, tell me, what is written on my forehead? Only these eyes remain alive, waiting for you.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Where are you held? Whose cry are you running to? O Lord, has sleep taken you? Where are you held, lost in the sweetness of your devotees' love? You cannot pull your face from the gopis. Has someone else's trouble caught you? Is the road too long to walk? Do you see faults in me? Is that why you are angry, Shripati? Tell me, what is written on my forehead? Tuka says: only this much life is left, here in my eyes that wait.
What it means
Tukaram is calling to a God who does not arrive, and he turns his own ache into a string of questions. He imagines every reason Vitthal might be delayed: sleep, the embrace of other lovers, someone else's crisis, a road too long, or anger at faults in Tukaram himself. Each guess is the longing trying to make sense of silence. The poem ends without an answer; the only thing left alive is the waiting eyes, and even they are nearly spent. He names the hardest part of devotion, that you can give everything and still be made to wait.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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