Impatient love, do not delay
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां आवश्यक करणें समाधान । पाहिलें निर्वाण न पाहिजे ॥1॥
केलें तरीं आतां शुशोभें करावें । दिसतें बरवें संतांमधीं ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं भक्तराजीं ठेविला उधार । नामाचा आकार त्यांचियानें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझ्या वडिलांचें ठेवणें । गोप्य नारायणें न करावें ॥3॥
काय आतां मोक्ष करावा जी देवा । तुमचिया गोवा दर्शनासी ॥ध्रु.॥
केलिया नेमासी उभें ठाडें व्हावें । नेमलें तें भावें पालटेना ॥12॥
तुका ह्मणे जों जों कराल उशीर । तों तों मज फार रडवील ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now contentment must be made a necessity; there is no need to wait for final realization. If something is to be done, let it be done beautifully, in a manner that shines among the saints. The great devotees have never left anything for later; they embodied the name in their very form. Says Tuka, the treasure my elders stored should not be kept secret by Narayana. What need is there for liberation now, O God, when the true entanglement is in beholding You? Once a vow is made, one must stand by it faithfully; what is pledged in devotion does not change. Says Tuka, the longer You delay, the more You make me weep.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now you must grant me peace; do not make me wait for the final end. If it is to be done, then do it beautifully, in a way that shines among the saints. The great devotees left nothing on credit for later; they made the Name their very form. Tuka says: the treasure my elders stored, let Narayana not keep it hidden. What use is liberation to me now, God, when my one entanglement is the longing to see you? Once a vow is made, you must stand by it; what is pledged in love does not change. Tuka says: the longer you delay, the more you make me weep.
What it means
Tukaram presses God like a child demanding what was promised, refusing to be patient. He does not want liberation or some far-off final realization; he wants the sight of God now, and says the only thing binding him to the world is that very longing. He reminds God that the great devotees of old took the Name fully, holding nothing back for later, and asks that the treasure handed down by his elders not be kept hidden from him. The poem ends in open complaint, half tender and half insistent: a vow must be honored, and every delay only makes Tukaram weep harder.
The Power of the Name
The supremacy of nama-smarana: God's name as the highest practice.
More in this theme →