Complaint, the master's duty
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सेवकें करावें सांगितलें काम । सिक्याचा तो धर्म स्वामी राखे ॥1॥
काय देवा नेणों आलें गांढेपण । तुह्मी शक्तिहीन जाले दिसां ॥ध्रु.॥
विष्णुदास आह्मी निर्भर ज्याबळें । तें दिसे या काळें अव्हेरिलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मूळ पाठवा लौकरी । किंवा करूं हरी काय सांगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A servant should carry out the work assigned; it is the master's duty to look after the wages. What, O God, has this helplessness come to? You seem to have lost Your power these days. We are servants of Vishnu, confident in His strength, yet that strength seems abandoned in these times. Says Tuka, send word quickly, or tell me, O Hari, what I should do.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The servant should do the work he is told. Looking after the wages is the master's job. What helplessness has come over you, God? You seem to have lost your power these days. We are servants of Vishnu, sure of his strength. Now that strength looks abandoned. Tuka says: send word quickly, Hari, or tell me what I should do.
What it means
Tukaram presses his case with a sharp household image: a servant only owes the labor, while paying the wages is the master's responsibility. By that logic, if the devotee keeps up his devotion and rescue still does not come, the failure is God's, not his. He goes further and needles God directly, asking what weakness has come over him, saying his power looks lost. It is bold, even insolent, but it is the boldness of someone whose entire confidence rests on the master's strength. The demand at the close is honest: either act, or tell me plainly what else I am supposed to do.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →