Longing, the ache of God's neglect
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कवणांशीं भांडों कोण माझें साहे । कोण मज आहे तुजविण ॥1॥
धरिलें उदास दुरदुरांतरें । सांडी एकसरें केली माझी॥ध्रु.॥
आइकोन माझे नाइकसी बोल । देखोनियां खोळ बुंथी घेसी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे एके गांवींची वसती । ह्मणऊनि खंती वाटे देवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
With whom shall I quarrel? Who will take my side? Who do I have besides You? You have grown distant, casting me off all at once. You hear my words but refuse to listen; seeing me approach, You pull a veil over Yourself. Says Tuka, we dwell in the same village, and so this neglect pains me, O God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
With whom shall I quarrel? Who will take my side? Whom do I have but You? You have grown cold and kept Your distance, casting me off all at once. You hear my words but will not listen; when You see me coming, You pull a veil over Your face. Tuka says: we live in the very same village, and that is why this neglect hurts me, O God.
What it means
Tukaram is grieving a felt distance from God, with no one else to turn to. He has no other ally to fight for him; God is his only one, and yet God has turned cold and seems to have dropped him in a single stroke. He pictures God hearing his cries but refusing to attend, even hiding behind a veil when He sees Tukaram approach. The sting in the last line is closeness made painful: they dwell in the same village, so near to each other, and it is precisely that nearness that makes being ignored unbearable.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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