Longing, why does God not come
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उचिताचा दाता । कृपावंता तूं अनंता ॥1॥
कां रे न घालिसी धांव । तुझें उच्चारितां नांव ॥ध्रु.॥
काय बळयुक्ति । नाहीं तुझे अंगीं शक्ति ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तूं विश्वंभर । ओस माझें कां अंतर ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You are the giver of what is right, O merciful and infinite One. Why then do You not rush to me when I call Your name? Have You lost Your strength and power? Says Tuka, You are the sustainer of the universe; why then is my heart so empty?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You are the giver of what is right, merciful and without end. Why then do you not come running when I call your name? Have you no strength left? Is there no power in your body? Tuka says: you hold up the whole world; why then is my heart left so empty?
What it means
Tukaram presses God with a complaint shaped as a question. He grants everything good about God, merciful, infinite, the giver of what is fitting, and uses that very goodness to ask why the call on the Name goes unanswered. The sting in the middle is mock challenge: surely God has not run out of strength. The last line lands the real wound: the one who sustains the entire universe is letting one heart stay empty, and Tukaram lays that emptiness directly at God's door rather than blaming himself.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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