The debtor God before elders
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां न राहें क्षण एक । तुझा कळला रे लौकिक। नेदीं हालों एक । कांहीं केल्यावांचूनि ॥1॥
संबंध पडिला कोणाशीं। काय डोळे झांकितोसी । नेईन पांचांपाशीं । दे नाहींतरी वोढूनि॥ध्रु.॥
सुखें नेदीस जाणवलें । नास केल्याविण उगलें । तरि तें ही विचारिलें । आह्मी आहे तुज आधीं ॥2॥
असें च करूनि किती । नागविलीं नाहीं नीती । तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे अंतीं । न सोडिसी ते खोडी॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now I will not rest for a single moment. Your true character has been revealed. I will not let You move an inch without getting what is mine. What connection have You formed? Why do You close Your eyes? I will drag You before the five elders if You do not give willingly. If sweetness fails and You will not yield without destruction, know that I have already considered that option too. How long will You go on cheating in this way? Says Tukya-bandhu, in the end You never give up Your tricks.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now I will not rest a single moment. I have seen your true ways. I will not let you move one step until I get what is mine. What bond did you make with me? Why do you shut your eyes? Give it willingly, or I drag you before the five elders. If gentleness fails and you will yield only when ruined, know that I have already weighed that too. How long will you keep cheating like this? Tukya-bandhu says: in the end you never drop your tricks.
What it means
The bhakta turns relentless: God is the debtor who keeps looking away, and the soul refuses to let Him slip past until the debt is paid. The threat to drag God before the five village elders, the panchayat, casts grace as a matter of justice that can be tried in open court. The poet even says he has thought through the harsher options, that he will press the case to the point of ruin if sweet asking does not work. The harshness is aimed at God's evasions, the way grace seems forever deferred, not at any contempt for God. What looks like rude bargaining is actually a love that will not be put off.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →