Longing, scolding the slow rescuer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कां रे न पवसी धांवण्या । अंगराख्या नारायणा॥1॥
अंगीं असोनियां बळ । होसी खटएाळ नाठएाळ ॥ध्रु.॥
आह्मां नरकासी जातां । काय येइल तुझ्या हातां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कान्हा। क्रियानष्टा नारायणा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why do You not come running, O Narayana, my bodyguard? You have the strength, yet You play truant and obstinate. If we go to hell, what gain will that bring to You? Says Tuka, O Krishna, O faithless Narayana.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why do You not come running, O Narayana, my shield? You have the strength in You, yet You act the rogue and the truant. If we go to hell, what will come into Your hands by it? Tuka says: O Krishna, O faithless Narayana.
What it means
Tukaram prays in the bold voice of love, scolding God for being slow to rescue. He calls Narayana his shield and bodyguard, then accuses Him of holding back his power and playing the truant rogue. The argument is shrewd and tender: if the devotee is allowed to fall into hell, God Himself loses, for what does He gain by abandoning His own? The blunt closing names, faithless Narayana, are the complaint of someone who feels close enough to demand, not an insult from one who doubts.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →