Longing, the unbearable affliction
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लागों दिलें अंगा । ऐसें कां गा सन्निध ॥1॥
कोण्या पापें उदो केला । तो देखिला प्रळय ॥ध्रु.॥
न देखवे पिडला सर्प। दया दर्प विषाचा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भलें । मज तो न वजे साहिलें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why did You let this attach itself to my body, being so close? By what sin was this upheaval raised, this destruction that I now witness? The sight of one tormented by a serpent evokes pity, yet the venom shows no mercy. Says Tuka, it would have been well, but I cannot endure what has been heaped upon me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why did you let this cling to my body, you who are so near? By what sin did this rising come, this ruin I now watch? When you see someone bitten by a snake you feel pity; but the venom shows no mercy. Tuka says: it would have been good, but I cannot bear what has been piled on me.
What it means
Tukaram is crying out under an affliction he cannot name and cannot escape. He turns to the God who is close at hand and asks why such suffering was allowed to fasten onto him, as if it rose from some sin. He pictures himself as a person bitten by a serpent: onlookers feel pity, yet the poison keeps working all the same. The poem ends not in answer but in confession of his limit, that this is more than he can endure, which is itself the cry that summons help.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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