Complaint then rebuke, hollow devotion
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जे केली आळी ते अवघी गेली वांयां । उरला पंढरिराया श्रम माझा ॥1॥
काय समाधान केलें कोण वेळे । कोणें माझे लळे पािळयेलें ॥ध्रु.॥
आभास ही नाहीं स्वप्नीं दुिश्चता । प्रत्यक्ष बोलतां कंइचा तो ॥2॥
आतां पुढें लाज वाटे पांडुरंगा । भक्त ऐसे जगामाजी जाले ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां नाहीं भरवसा । मोकलीसी ऐसा वाटतोसी ॥4॥
कां रे वैष्णव नव्हेसी । कवण्या दंभें नागवलासी॥ध्रु.॥
हरि हरि ह्मणतां लाजसी । गर्वें फुगोनि चालसी ॥2॥
तारुण्यें उताणा । पुंसेंविण बांडा सुना ॥3॥
जालेंसि महिमेचे वेडें । नाचों लाजसी दिंडीपुढें ॥4॥
अळंकारांच्यानि बळें । वंचलासी तुळसीमाळें॥5॥
कैसा सकुमार जालासी । ह्मणसी न टकें एकादशी॥6॥
स्नान न करिसी आंघोळी । विभुती न लाविसी कपाळीं ॥7॥
वरिवरि न्याहािळसी त्वचा । उपेग नाहीं मांसाचा॥8॥
पद्मनाभी विश्वनाथ । तुका अझून रडत ॥9॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All the pleas I made were wasted; nothing remains but my own weariness, O Lord of Pandhari. When did You ever give me contentment? When did anyone honor my wishes? Not even a trace of a dream or a troubled vision, let alone a direct word. Now I am ashamed, O Panduranga; devotees such as these have arisen in the world. Says Tuka, I no longer have any confidence; it seems You have abandoned me. Why are you not a true Vaishnava? What pretense has blinded you? You are ashamed to say Hari, Hari, and walk about puffed up with pride. Your youth has made you lazy; you are barren and useless without real strength. You are mad for fame but ashamed to dance before the pilgrims' procession. You have traded the tulsi garland for the power of mere ornaments. How delicate you have become, claiming you cannot endure even a single Ekadashi fast. You will not bathe or apply sacred ash to your forehead. You pamper only the outer skin, while the flesh beneath is of no use. Says Tuka, calling on Padmanabhi and Vishwanath, he is still weeping.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Every plea I made was wasted. All that is left, O Lord of Pandhari, is my own weariness. When did You ever give me peace? When did anyone honor my wishes? Not even a trace of a dream, not even a troubled vision, let alone a word to my face. Now I feel ashamed, O Panduranga; this is the kind of devotee the world has produced. Tuka says: I have no confidence left now; it feels as if You have let me go. Why are you not a true Vaishnava? What pretense has stripped you bare? You are ashamed to say Hari, Hari, and you walk around swollen with pride. Your youth has made you lazy; you are barren and useless, with no real strength. You are mad for fame but ashamed to dance before the pilgrims' procession. You have traded the tulsi garland for the power of ornaments. How delicate you have become, saying you cannot keep even one Ekadashi fast. You will not bathe or wash; you will not put sacred ash on your forehead. You tend only the outer skin; the flesh beneath is good for nothing. Tuka says: calling on Padmanabhi and Vishwanath, he is still weeping.
What it means
The poem turns from grief to a sharp self-examination. First Tukaram cries that all his prayers went unanswered and that he is ashamed to be God's devotee at all, fearing he has been abandoned. Then the voice rounds on a slack, vain pretender who calls himself a Vaishnava but is too proud to chant the Name, too lazy and fashionable to fast or dance with the pilgrims, too fond of ornaments to wear the tulsi beads. The charge is aimed at the pattern of empty, image-conscious religion, the kind that tends the surface and lets the inner life rot. By ending with Tuka still weeping before God, the abhanga turns the accusation back on the singer too: the real question is whether one's own devotion is alive or only worn like jewelry.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →