Longing, a lover's quarrel with God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मीं देतों हाका । कां रे जालासी तूं मुका ॥1॥
न बोलसी नारायणा । कळलासी क्रियाहीना ॥ध्रु.॥
आधीं करूं चौघाचार। मग सांडूं भीडभार ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सेवटीं । तुह्मां आह्मां घालूं तुटी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am calling out to You. Why have You gone silent? You do not speak, O Narayana; I have found You to be one who does nothing. First let us observe formal courtesies, and then let us drop all pretense of politeness. Says Tuka, in the end, let us settle the matter between us once and for all.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I keep calling out to you. Why have you gone silent? Why have you become mute? You will not speak, Narayana. I have found you out: you are one who does nothing. First let us keep the polite formalities. Then let us drop all of that pretense. Tuka says: in the end, let us settle this matter between us once and for all.
What it means
Tukaram speaks to God the way a wronged friend speaks, blunt and aching. He has been calling out and getting only silence, so he accuses Narayana to his face of being one who acts not, who leaves him unanswered. The poem stages the quarrel in stages: a brief show of courtesy first, then he means to drop the politeness and have it out plainly. The 'settling once and for all' is not a threat to leave but the demand of a love that refuses to be ignored: he wants the relationship made real, not kept at a polite distance.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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