Longing, the Father who must not vanish
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कां जी वाढविलें । न लगतां हें उगलें ॥1॥
आतां मानितां कांटाळा । भोवतीं मिळालिया बाळा ॥ध्रु.॥
लावूनियां सवे। पळतां दिसाल बरवे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बापा । येतां न कळा चि रूपा ॥3॥ ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why did You nurture us when it was not needed? Now You feel weary as the children have gathered around You. If You run away after leading them on, it will not look good. Says Tuka, O Father, when You come, may You not be recognized in disguise.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why did You raise us up when there was no need? Now You feel weary, with the children gathered all around You. If You lead them on and then run away, it will not look good. Tuka says: O Father, when You come, may You not come unrecognized in disguise.
What it means
Tukaram speaks as one of God's gathered children and holds the Father to account. If God had no need to nurture them, why did he draw them close and raise them at all? Now that they crowd around him, he must not act weary and slip away, for a parent who lures the little ones in and then flees has shamed himself. The final plea is tender and pointed: when God does come, let him come openly, not hidden in some disguise the children cannot recognize. The poem treats divine love as a promise that carries an obligation: having claimed us, God cannot simply withdraw.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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