Saints, the missed meeting
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नेणों काय नाड । आला उचित काळा आड ॥1॥
नाहीं जाली संतभेटी । येवढी हानी काय मोठी ॥ध्रु.॥
सहज पायांपासीं । जवळी पावलिया ऐसी ॥2॥
चुकी जाली आतां काय। तुका ह्मणे उरली हाय ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I do not know what obstacle came in the way at the appointed time. Not meeting the saints is truly the greatest loss. Even when I had come so close to their feet, I missed the chance. Says Tuka, the opportunity is lost now, and only regret remains.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I do not know what got in the way. Something blocked me at the very time I should have gone. The meeting with the saints did not happen. Is there any greater loss than this? I had come so near, right up to their feet. And the chance slipped. The mistake is made now; what can I do? Tuka says: only the ache of it is left.
What it means
Tukaram is grieving a meeting with the saints that he failed to keep. He does not know what obstacle stopped him at the appointed hour, and he names this missed meeting as the greatest loss a person can suffer. The sharp pain is that he was already close, right at their feet, and still let the moment go. He does not excuse it; he calls it his own mistake and says nothing can undo it now. What remains is regret, which the poem holds up as a warning not to let such a chance pass.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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