Longing, holding God to his word
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हें का आह्मां सेवादान । देखों सीण विषमाचा ॥1॥
सांभाळा जी ब्रीदावळी । तुह्मीं कां कळीसारिखे ॥ध्रु.॥
शरणागत वैया हातीं । हे नििंश्चती देखिली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे इच्छीं भेटी । पाय पोटीं उफराटे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Is this what passes for service and offering, that I should witness this suffering of hardship? Guard Your own pledges, O Lord. Why do You act as if this were a dark age? The surrendered one is cast into the hands of fate. Is this the certainty I was promised? Says Tuka, I long for the meeting, yet Your feet in my chitta seem turned upside down.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Is this what You call service and offering, that I must watch this hard suffering? Guard Your own pledges, Lord. Why do You behave as if this were a dark and faithless age? The one who has surrendered is thrown into the hands of fate. Is this the certainty You promised me? Tuka says: I long for the meeting, yet Your feet in my heart seem turned upside down.
What it means
Tukaram is praying as a complaint, holding God accountable to His own reputation. He has given service and offering and surrendered himself, and in return he sees only hardship, so he asks whether this is the protection that was promised. He invokes God's brida, the vows and titles God has earned as the rescuer of those who take refuge, and asks why God is acting as though no such promise binds Him. The ache is sharpest at the end: the very feet he has held in his heart now feel reversed, turned away from him. This is not loss of faith but faith pressing its claim, refusing to let God off the hook.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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