Defiance, mother's darling first
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मुख्य आहे आह्मां मातेचा पटंगा । तुज पांडुरंगा कोण लेखी ॥1॥
नको लावूं आह्मां सवें तूं तोंवरी । पाहा दूरवरी विचारूनी ॥ध्रु.॥
साहे संतजन केले महाराज । न घडे आतां तुज भेईन मी ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे अहिक्यें ऐक्यता । वाढतें अनंता दुःखें दुःख ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Our chief concern is our mother's darling; who regards You, O Panduranga? Do not try to match wits with us; think carefully and look ahead. Endure the holy people and the saints You have made great; I am no longer afraid of You. Says Tukya-bandhu, through this oneness of kinship, O Infinite One, suffering only breeds more suffering.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Our first care is our mother's darling; who reckons You as anything, O Panduranga? Do not try to match wits with us; look far ahead and think it over. Bear with the holy people and the saints You have made great; I am no longer afraid of You. Tukya-bandhu says: through this oneness of kinship, O Infinite One, suffering only breeds more suffering.
What it means
The poet sets his human bond above God in a deliberate provocation: the brother, their mother's beloved, comes first, and just now Vitthal counts for little. He dares God not to outmaneuver him and tells Him to think about the consequences. Having lost his fear, he speaks as an equal rather than a suppliant. The closing line names the cost of this drawn-out contest: as long as the two of them stay locked together in this struggle of kinship, the grief only keeps multiplying on both sides.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →