Longing, the unanswered servant
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाय परतें काय आणिला कांटाळा । बोला एक वेळा ऐसें तरी ॥1॥
कां हो केलें तुह्मी निष्ठ देवा । मानेना हे सेवा करितों ते ॥ध्रु.॥
भाग्यवंत त्यांसी सांगितल्या गोष्टी । तें नाहीं अदृष्टीं आमुचिया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मापासूनि अंतर । न पडे नाहीं िस्थर बुिद्ध माझी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Go away if You wish, but at least say so once with some reluctance. Why have You become so indifferent, O God? The service I offer does not seem to please You. To the fortunate ones You told Your stories; such fortune does not appear in our destiny. Says Tuka, I cannot bear any distance from You, yet my own mind will not hold still.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Go away if You like, but at least say so once, with some reluctance. Why have You become so hard, God? The service I do does not seem to please You. To the fortunate ones You told Your stories; that fortune is not written in our fate. Tuka says: I cannot bear any distance from You, yet my own mind will not hold still.
What it means
Tukaram speaks as a servant who feels his devotion is being met with cold silence. He would almost rather God said go away outright than leave him guessing, and he aches that the service he offers seems to please no one. He looks at the fortunate souls to whom God spoke and told his stories, and admits, without bitterness toward them, that such fortune does not appear in his own destiny. The closing turn is where he stops blaming God and names his own part: he cannot endure any distance from the Lord, and yet his own restless mind refuses to stay still long enough to close the gap.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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