Longing, the cry at the last hour
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मागें बहुतां जनां राखिलें आडणी । धांवसी निर्वाणी नाम घेतां ॥1॥
ऐसें ठावें जालें मज बरव्या परी । ह्मणऊनि करीं धांवा तुझा ॥ध्रु.॥
माझेविशीं तुज पडिला विसरु । आतां काय करूं पांडुरंगा ॥2॥
अझुनि कां नये तुह्मासी करुणा । दुरि नारायणा धरिलें मज ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जीव जाऊं पाहे माझा । आतां केशीराजा घालीं उडी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the past You have sheltered many, rushing to their aid when they called Your Name at the final hour. I have learned this well, and therefore I cry out to You. Have You forgotten me, O Panduranga? What am I to do now? Why does compassion not yet stir in You, O Narayana? Why have You kept me at a distance? Says Tuka, my very life is leaving me; O Lord of Keshi, take the plunge and save me now.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the past you have saved many at the edge of ruin; you come running when they call your Name in their last extremity. I have come to know this well, and so I cry out to you. Have you forgotten me? What am I to do now, Panduranga? Why does no pity stir in you yet? You have kept me far off, Narayana. Tuka says: my very life is slipping away; now, O Lord of Keshi, leap in and save me.
What it means
Tukaram prays out of his own desperation by holding up God's own track record. He recalls how God has rushed to others at their final, hopeless hour the moment they called the Name, and uses that known mercy as the ground of his plea. Then he names his own bewilderment: he is calling, yet feels forgotten, kept at a distance, met with no answering pity. The cry sharpens to the breaking point, his life is leaving him, so he begs Panduranga not to deliberate but to leap in at once, as the savior he is famed to be.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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