Longing, daring God to keep His title
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय तें सामर्थ्य न चले या काळें । काय जालीं बळें शक्तिहीण ॥1॥
माझिया संचितें आणिलासी हरी । जालें तुजवरी वरिष्ठ तें ॥ध्रु.॥
काय गमाविली सुदर्शन गदा । नो बोला गोविंदा लाजतसां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे काय िब्रदाचें तें काम । सांडा परतें नाम दिनानाथ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Has Your power ceased to work in this age? Have Your forces become feeble? My past karma has brought me to You, O Hari, and it has overwhelmed even You. Have You lost Your Sudarshana discus and mace? You remain silent, O Govinda, out of shame. Says Tuka, if Your title means nothing, then abandon the name Dinanath, Friend of the Poor.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Has Your power stopped working in this age? Have Your forces gone weak? My own past deeds have brought me to You, O Hari, and they have proved too heavy even for You. Have You lost Your Sudarshana discus and Your mace? You stay silent, O Govinda, as if ashamed. Tuka says: if Your title means no work, then throw away the name Dinanath, Friend of the Poor.
What it means
Tukaram taunts God to provoke a rescue. He asks whether the divine power has failed in this present age, or whether his own accumulated karma has finally outmatched even the Lord. The weapons that destroy all obstacles, the discus and the mace, seem to have gone missing, and God's silence reads to him like shame. The sharp close is the stake: God is called Dinanath, Friend of the Poor, and if that name brings no action to the poor man standing here, then it is a hollow title and should be discarded. The barb is aimed at moving God to honor His own name.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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