Complaint, the relentless pursuer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पूवाअ पूर्वजांची गती । हे चि आईिकली होती । सेवे लावूनि श्रीपती । नििंश्चती केली तयांची ॥1॥
कां रे पाठी लागलासी। ऐसा सांग हृषीकेशी । अद्यापवरी न राहासी । अंत पाहासी किती ह्मुण ॥ध्रु.॥
जन्मजन्मांतरीं दावा । आह्मां आपणां केशवा । निमित्य चालवा । काईसयास्तव हें ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे अदेखणा । किती होसी नारायणा । देखों सकवेना । खातयासी न खात्या ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have heard that this is how it was in generations past: our ancestors were drawn into Your service, and You gave them Your assurance. Why then, O Hrishikesha, do You pursue us? How long will You test us? Birth after birth, O Keshava, there is a claim between us. Why do You keep up this pretense? Says Tukya-bandhu, how long will You remain so blind, O Narayana? You cannot bear to see one eating when another goes hungry.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I had heard that this is how it was with our ancestors long ago. They were drawn into Your service, and You gave them Your assurance. Why then, O Hrishikesha, do You pursue us? Tell me. Even now You will not stop. How long will You test us? Birth after birth, O Keshava, there is a claim between us. Why do You keep up this pretense? Tukya-bandhu says: how long will You stay so blind, O Narayana? You cannot bear to see one man eating while another goes hungry.
What it means
The speaker sees a family pattern: the ancestors too were pulled into God's service, so this pursuit reaches back through the generations as an old standing claim. He asks why God will not relent, why the testing goes on birth after birth. The closing charge is the sharpest: God cannot stand to see one man fed while another starves, so He keeps taking. Read kindly, it names a divine hunger for souls that will not leave a family in peace. The poem voices the strange grief of being chosen, of belonging to a God who treats devotion as a debt that is never fully paid.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
More in this theme →