Longing, holding on through karma
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझिया संचिता । दृढ देखोनि बिळवंता । पळसी पंढरिनाथा । भेणे आतां तयाच्या ॥1॥
तरि मज कळलासी । नव्हतां भेटी जाणीवेसी । एक संपादिसी । मान करिसी लोकांत ॥ध्रु.॥
तरि हें प्रारब्ध जी गाढें । कांहीं न चले तयापुढें । काय तुज म्यां कोंडें । रें सांकडें घालावें ॥2॥
भोगधीपति क्रियमाण । तें तुज नांगवे अजून। तरि का वांयांविण । तुज म्यां सीण करावा ॥3॥
तुज नव्हतां माझें कांहीं । परि मी न संडीं भक्तिसोई । हो कां भलत्या ठायीं । कुळीं जन्म भलतैसा ॥4॥
तूं भितोसि माझिया दोषा । कांहीं मागणें ते आशा । तुका ह्मणे ऐसा । कांहीं न धरीं संकोच ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Seeing the strength of my accumulated karma, O mighty one, You flee, O Lord of Pandhari, afraid of its force. Now I see through You; before we ever met, You were busy earning a name among the people. If my destiny is indeed so formidable that nothing prevails against it, why should I press You with my burden? The pleasure-lord that is present action still overpowers You even now; then why should I weary You in vain? You owe me nothing, yet I will not abandon the path of devotion, no matter what family or birth I may take. You fear my faults and I fear my hopes may come to nothing. Says Tuka, do not hold back any such hesitation on my account.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You see how strong my heaped-up karma is, O mighty one, and now You run from it, O Lord of Pandhari. You are afraid. So now I have understood You. Even before we met, You were busy earning a name among people. If my destiny is so hard that nothing can move it, why should I press my burden on You? Present action still overpowers You, even now. Then why should I wear You out for nothing? You owe me nothing, yet I will not let go of devotion, whatever family or birth I am given. You fear my faults, and I fear my hopes will fail. Tuka says: do not hold back any such hesitation on my account.
What it means
Tukaram speaks half in play and half in earnest, accusing Vitthal of dodging him because his accumulated karma looks too heavy to lift. The teasing carries a real plea: if destiny and present action are stronger even than God, why should either of them keep wrestling over the load. Yet he settles the bargain in his own favor. He drops every claim on God and asks for nothing he is owed, but he refuses to drop his devotion no matter what birth comes next. The mutual fear, God's of Tukaram's sins and Tukaram's of his own unmet hope, is what he asks Vitthal to set aside, so that nothing stands between them.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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