Longing, waiting wears thin
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
येइल तुझ्या नामा । जाल ह्मणों पुरुषोत्तमा ॥1॥
धीर राहिलों धरूनि । त्रास उपजला मनीं ॥ध्रु.॥
जगा कथा नांव। निराशेनें नुपजे भाव ॥2॥
तुह्मी साक्षी कीं गा । तुका ह्मणे पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I thought that when Your name came to my lips, I would call You Purushottama. I have waited with patience, but vexation has arisen in my mind. The world hears only the story and the name; where there is no hope, no faith is born. Says Tuka, are You not a witness to all this, O Panduranga?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I thought when Your name came to my lips, I would call You Purushottama. I have held on with patience, but vexation has risen in my mind. The world hears only the story and the name; where there is no hope, no faith is born. Tuka says: You are the witness, are You not, O Panduranga?
What it means
Tukaram presses God with the strain of long waiting. He had trusted that taking the divine name would bring him to the Supreme Person, and he has waited patiently, but the delay is now turning to irritation. He observes a hard truth: the world hears only the tale and the name, and where no real hope is given, no living faith can take root in a person. So he turns the matter back to God, calling Panduranga the witness of his waiting, asking the silent one to acknowledge what He has seen.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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