Longing, the silence of God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कां माझा विसर पडिला मायबाप । सांडियेली कृपा कोण्या गुणें ॥1॥
कैसा कंठूनियां राहों संवसार । काय एक धीर देऊं मना ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं निरोपाची पावली वारता । करावी ते चिंता ऐसी कांहीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे एक वेचूनि वचन । नाहीं समाधान केलें माझें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why have You forgotten me, O my Father and Mother? For what reason have You withdrawn Your grace? How shall I endure this worldly life? What consolation can I give my mind? No word of message has reached me; what worry should I entertain? Says Tuka, You have not spent even a single word to bring me peace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why have you forgotten me, my Mother, my Father? For what fault have you set your grace aside? How am I to pass my days in this worldly life? What courage can I give my mind? No word of message has reached me; what worry am I to hold? Tuka says: you have not spent a single word to give me peace.
What it means
Tukaram cries out from the experience of being abandoned by a God he calls both Mother and Father. He cannot find the reason grace has been withdrawn, and without it he does not know how to bear the daily grind of worldly life or steady his own mind. Worst of all is the silence: no message, no answer, nothing to tell him what he should even worry about. He measures God's neglect by the smallest possible coin, a single word, and notes that even that has not been given. This is the dark night of the devotee, complaint and prayer in one breath.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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