Devotion, the evasive creditor
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
करितां वेरझारा । उभा न राहासी वेव्हारा ॥1॥
हे तों झोंडाईचे चाळे । काय पोटीं तें न कळे ॥ध्रु.॥
आरगुणी मुग । बैसलासी जैसा बग ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे किती । बुडविलीं आळवितीं॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When the rounds of exchange come, You do not stay to settle the account. These are just evasive games; can I not see what is really in Your belly? You sit motionless, watching like a crane. Says Tuka, how many who called upon You have You let drown?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the rounds of exchange come, You do not stay to settle the account. These are only dodging games; do I not see what is in Your belly? You sit still, watching like a crane. Tuka says: how many who called on You have You let drown?
What it means
Tukaram complains that God keeps slipping away whenever it is time to settle accounts, like a debtor who avoids the reckoning. He says he can see through the evasions, the hidden intent behind the stillness. The crane image is sharp: the bird sits motionless and patient, looking holy, but is really waiting to strike, so the outward calm hides indifference. The closing question is an accusation: how many who cried out to God were left to drown? It is the bold lament of a devotee who refuses to pretend God's silence does not hurt.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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