Demand, refusing every boon but one
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भुक्ति मुक्ति तुझें जळों ब्रह्मज्ञान । दे माझ्या आणोनी भावा वेगीं ॥1॥
रिद्धी सिद्धी मोक्ष ठेवीं गुंडाळून । दे माझ्या आणून भावा वेगीं ॥ध्रु.॥
नको आपुलिया नेऊं वैकुंठासी । दे माझ्या भावासी आणुन वेगीं ॥2॥
नको होऊं कांहीं होसील प्रसन्न। दे माझ्या आणून भावा वेगीं ॥3॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे पाहा हो नाहींतरी । हत्या होईल शिरीं पांडुरंगा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let Your worldly blessings and liberation and Brahman-knowledge all burn. Bring my brother back to me at once. Keep Your supernatural powers and salvation bundled up; bring my brother back quickly. Do not take him away to Your Vaikuntha; bring my brother to me without delay. Do not try to appease me with any boon; just bring my brother back. Says Tukya-bandhu, look here, if You do not, the sin of his death will fall upon Your head, O Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let Your worldly gifts and Your liberation and Your knowledge of Brahman all burn. Bring my brother back to me at once. Bundle up Your powers and Your salvation and put them away; bring my brother back quickly. Do not carry him off to Your Vaikuntha; bring my brother to me without delay. Do not try to win me with any boon; just bring my brother back. Tukya-bandhu says: look here, if You do not, the sin of his death will fall on Your head, O Panduranga.
What it means
The poet refuses the whole catalogue of things devotees are supposed to crave, enjoyment, liberation, supernatural powers, even the knowledge of Brahman and the heaven of Vaikuntha, and wants none of them in place of the one person he loves. The repeated demand makes the point sharp: no spiritual reward can stand in for the brother. He even refuses to be appeased by a granted wish, and lays the responsibility squarely on God, warning that if the brother is lost, the blame is Vitthal's. It is a fierce statement that love of the particular outweighs every promised reward.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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