Complaint, the trap seen through
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कांहीं विपित्त अपत्यां । आतां अमुचिया होतां । काय होईल अनंता । पाहा बोलों कासया ॥1॥
बरें अनायासें जालें। सायासेंविण बोले चाले । काबाड चुकलें । केलें कष्टावेगळें ॥ध्रु.॥
बरा सांपडलासी वोजा । वर्मावरी केशीराजा । बोलायासी तुझा । उजुरचि नाहींसा ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे दगा । बरा दिला होता बागा । झडकरी चलागा । चांग दैवें पावलों ॥3॥
देवा तुजपें माझ्या पूर्वजांचें ॠण । आहे तें कां नेदिसी अझून ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What if some calamity now befalls our children, O Infinite One? See what there is to say about it. All has turned out well without any effort; everything runs and speaks on its own, free of all toil. You have been caught in the act, O Lord, struck right at the vulnerable spot. You have no excuse left. Says Tukya-bandhu, You had set a fine trap, but by good fortune we have seen through it. O God, You still owe us the debt of our forefathers; why have You not repaid it?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What if some calamity now falls on our children, O Infinite One? See. What is there to say about it? It has all turned out fine, with no effort. Everything runs and speaks on its own now, free of toil. You have been caught in the act, O Lord, struck right at the tender spot. You have no excuse left. Tukya-bandhu says: You had set a fine trap, but by good luck we have seen through it. O God, You still owe us the debt of our forefathers. Why have You not repaid it yet?
What it means
The speaker fears for the children who might suffer next, then, half mocking, says the family's life now runs on its own with no effort, as if abandoned to fate. The pivot is triumphant: God has been caught in the act, struck where He is vulnerable, with no excuse left. The trap He laid for this household has been seen through in time. And the speaker presses an old claim, the debt owed since their forefathers, asking why it remains unpaid. The poem mixes dread, defiance, and a creditor's demand, treating the relationship with God as an unsettled account the bhakta has every right to call in.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →