Anguish, the cry of one who sees
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोणापाशीं आतां सांगों मी बोभाट । कधीं खटखट सरेल हे ॥1॥
कोणां आराणूक होईल कोणे काळीं । आपुलालीं जाळीं उगवूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
माझा येणें दुःखें फुटतसे प्राण । न कळतां जन सुखी असे ॥2॥
भोगा आधीं मनें मानिलासे त्रास । पाहें लपायास ठाव कोठें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे देतों देवाचें गाहाणें । माझें रिण येणें सोसियेलें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
To whom shall I cry out now? When will this constant turmoil end? When will there be relief for anyone, each entangled in their own net? My life-breath is bursting with this anguish, while people who do not perceive it live in comfort. Even before the suffering arrives, my mind dreads it; I look for a place to hide. Says Tuka, I am pledging God's own word; my debt has been borne by Him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To whom shall I cry out now? When will this endless trouble end? When will anyone find rest, each one tangled in their own net? My life-breath bursts with this grief, while people who do not see it live at ease. Even before the suffering comes, my mind dreads it, and I look for a place to hide. There is none. Tuka says: I hand over God's own pledge; He has borne my debt.
What it means
Tukaram is crying out from a pain that has no human ear to receive it, watching everyone caught in their own snare with no relief in sight. What sharpens the anguish is that others do not even feel it; they are comfortable precisely because they cannot see what he sees. His dread runs ahead of the suffering itself, and he finds nowhere to hide from it. The resolution comes only in the last line: he stops trying to carry it and pledges God as his security, trusting that God has already taken on his debt.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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