Longing, taking God to the saints
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हे भिडा हें कारण । जाणे करूं ऐसे जन ॥1॥
जों जों धरावा लौकिक । रडवितोसी आणीक ॥ध्रु.॥
चाल जाऊं संतांपुढें । ते हें निवडिती रोकडें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तूं निर्लज्ज । आह्मां रोकडी गरज ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This is not a matter of courtesy; let people think of it as they will. The more You try to maintain appearances, the more You make me weep. Let us go before the saints; they will settle this plainly and at once. Says Tuka, You are shameless, and I have an urgent, pressing need.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This is not about being polite. Let people think whatever they want. The more you try to keep up appearances, the more you make me weep. Come, let us go before the saints. They will settle this plainly, right now. Tuka says: you are shameless, and my need is real and pressing.
What it means
Tukaram presses the quarrel further and names where it should be judged. He refuses to let the matter be smoothed over by courtesy or by what onlookers will say; God's keeping up appearances only deepens his weeping. So he proposes a court: take the dispute before the saints, who will rule on it plainly and at once. His closing charge, that God is shameless while his own need is urgent, is the cry of someone who will not let love be deferred; he wants the saints to hold God to account.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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