Complaint, the destroyer of homes
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बरा रे निर्गुणा नष्ट नारायणा । घरबुडवणा भेटलासी ॥1॥
एके घरीं कोणी कोणासी न धरी । ऐसी अपरांपरी केली आह्मां ॥2॥
कान्हा ह्मणे कां रे निःकाम देखिलें । ह्मणोनि मना आलें करितोसी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Well done, O formless One, O wretched Narayana, O destroyer of homes; You have come to meet me. In one household You have set everyone against the other; such havoc You have wrought upon us. Says Kanha, why, because You found us desireless, You felt free to do as You pleased?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Well done, O formless One, O wretched Narayana, O wrecker of homes; You have come to meet me. In one household You have turned everyone against everyone; such strange havoc You have made of us. Kanha says: why, just because You found us free of desire, did You feel free to do whatever You pleased?
What it means
The poet scolds God with the rough affection of someone who knows Him too well. He calls Narayana a destroyer of homes because devotion has scattered ordinary household ties, setting kin at odds once one of them turns wholly toward God. The real complaint is in the last line: God seems to take liberties precisely with those who want nothing for themselves, as if their desirelessness left Him free to do as He liked. Under the rebuke is the recognition that being claimed by God upends every settled human arrangement.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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