Longing, the dark path and the distant God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ओस जाल्या मज भिंगुळवाणें । जीवलग नेणें मज कोणी ॥1॥
भय वाटे देखें श्वापदांचे भार । नव्हे मज धीर पांडुरंगा॥ध्रु.॥
अंधकारापुढे न चलवे वाट । लागतील खुंटे कांटे अंगा ॥2॥
एकला निःसंग फांकती मारग । होतों नव्हे लाग चालावया ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे वाट दावूनि सद्गु । राहि हा दुरू पांडुरंग ॥4॥
उदार कृपाळ सांगसी जना । तरी कां त्या रावणा मारियेलें ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Without You, everything appears ghostly and desolate; I know no one who is truly dear to me. I am frightened by the hordes of wild beasts; I cannot summon courage, O Panduranga. In this darkness I cannot walk the path; thorns and stumps strike my body. I stand alone and companionless; the roads fork in many directions, and I cannot find my stride. Says Tuka, the guru showed me the way, but Panduranga has remained far away.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Without you everything turns ghostly and bare; I know no one who is truly dear to me. Fear takes me when I see the herds of wild beasts; I cannot find courage, O Panduranga. In the darkness the path cannot be walked; stumps and thorns catch my body. I am alone and without a companion; the roads fork every way, and I cannot find my stride. Tuka says: the guru showed me the way, but Panduranga has stayed far off.
What it means
Tukaram cries out from the middle of the journey, where God feels absent. Without God the world looks desolate and empty of anyone he can truly call his own. He names the terrors of the road: wild beasts, darkness he cannot walk through, thorns and stumps tearing at him, and forking paths with no one beside him. The complaint is sharp and not softened: the guru did point out the way, yet Panduranga himself has kept his distance. The poem holds the real anguish of a seeker who has been shown the path but still aches for the presence of God who has not yet come close.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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