Reckoning the debt, no more restraint
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय साहतोसी फुका । माझा बुडविला रुका ॥1॥
रीण घराचें पांगिलें । तें न सुटे कांहीं केलें ॥ध्रु.॥
चौघांचिया मतें। आधीं खरें केलें होते ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे यावरी । आतां भीड कोण धरी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why do You suffer silently for nothing? My coin has been lost because of You. The debt of this household has been incurred, and nothing I do can discharge it. It was all confirmed before witnesses at the start. Says Tuka, after all this, who would hold back any restraint?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why do You bear it in silence for nothing? My coin has been sunk because of You. The household's debt has been run up, and nothing I do will clear it. It was all settled before witnesses at the start. Tuka says: after all this, who would hold back now?
What it means
Tukaram speaks as a man who has spent everything on God and now wants an accounting. The lost coin and the unpayable household debt are the costs of a life staked wholly on devotion; he points out that God sits silent while the bill mounts. He reminds God that the bargain was struck openly, with witnesses, so it cannot now be denied. Having given all and bound God by agreement, he concludes that he has earned the right to drop all politeness and press his claim without restraint.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →