Patience, refusing to blame the Lord
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तोंवरी म्यां त्यास कैसें निषेधावें । जों नाहीं बरवें कळों आलें ॥1॥
कोणाचिया मुखें तट नाहीं मागें । वचन वाउगें बोलों नये ॥ध्रु.॥
दिसे हानि परी निरास न घडे । हे तंव रोकडे अनुभव॥2॥
आपुलिया भोगें होईल उशीर । तोंवरी कां धीर केला नाहीं ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे गोड करील सेवट । पाहिली ते वाट ठायीं आहे ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How can I blame Him until something certain is known? Without any direct word from anyone, one should not speak idle accusations. There appears to be loss, yet the hope cannot be given up; this much is clear from experience. Perhaps the delay is on account of my own karma; until then, why have I not kept patience? Says Tuka, He will make the ending sweet; the path I have been watching is still there.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How can I find fault with Him until I know something for certain? Without a single word from anyone, I should not speak idle accusations. There seems to be loss, yet I cannot give up hope; this much is plain from experience. Perhaps the delay is owing to my own karma; why then have I not kept patience until now. Tuka says: He will make the ending sweet. The path I have been watching is still there.
What it means
Here Tukaram catches his own complaint and turns it back on himself. He refuses to accuse God of neglect when he has no certain word, and warns against idle accusations spoken out of nothing. Though it looks like loss, experience tells him the hope must not be dropped. Then he names the likely truth: the delay may be the working of his own karma, so his impatience is misplaced and he should have held steady. He ends in trust, that the Lord will make the ending sweet, and that the path he has watched so long is still open before him.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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