The debtor God, ancient debt
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हळूहळू जाड । होत चालिलें लिगाड । जाणवेल निवाड । न करिसी परी पुढें ॥1॥
मी तों सांगून उतराई । जालों आतां तुज काई । कळों येईल भाई । तैसा करीं विचार ॥ध्रु.॥
मागें युगें अठ्ठाविस । जालीं दिवसाचा दिवस । मुदल व्याज कासावीस। होसी देवा ये कामें ॥2॥
तुकयाबंधु ह्मणे राखें । आतां टाकीं तुझीं तीं सुखें । जगजाहिर ठाउकें । जालें नाहीं खंडलेंसें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Slowly, slowly, this entanglement has grown thicker. If You do not settle the account, know what lies ahead. I have given You fair warning; I am discharged of my duty. From here onward, brother, act according to Your own judgment. Twenty-eight cosmic ages have passed, day by day; the interest upon the principal is crushing You, O God. Says Tukya-bandhu, preserve what You have. Discard those pleasures of Yours; the matter is public knowledge and has not been resolved.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Slowly, slowly this tangle has grown thicker. If you do not settle the account, know what lies ahead. I have given you fair warning, so I am clear of my duty. From now on, brother, act by your own judgment. Twenty-eight ages have passed, day after day; the interest on the principal is crushing you, God. Tukya-bandhu says: save yourself. Now let go of those pleasures of yours. The matter is known to the whole world and is still not closed.
What it means
The debt is recast as ancient, twenty-eight cosmic ages old, with the unpaid interest now mounting against God Himself. The bhakta says he has done his part by giving fair warning, so the consequences fall on God's side now. The crushing interest is a witty reversal: the longer grace is withheld, the heavier the obligation grows on the one who withholds it. He urges God to save His own name by paying and to set aside His comfortable detachment. The closing note, that the matter is public and unresolved, keeps the pressure of a debt that everyone can see.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →