Longing, calling the slow God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हें तों वाटलें आश्चर्य । तुह्मां न धरवे धीर ॥1॥
माझा फुटतसे प्राण । धांवा धांवा ह्मणऊन ॥ध्रु.॥
काय नेणों दिशा। जाल्या तुह्मांविण ओशा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कां गा । नाइकिजे पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Is it not astonishing that You cannot hold Your patience? My very life is breaking apart, crying 'Come, come quickly!' I do not know why all directions feel desolate without You. Says Tuka, O Panduranga, why do You not listen?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This is the strange thing: that you cannot keep your patience for me. My life is breaking apart, crying, Come, come quickly. I do not know why every direction looks empty and desolate without you. Tuka says: why, O Panduranga, why will you not listen?
What it means
Tukaram cries out in the ache of separation and even turns the complaint toward God. He marks it as strange that the God who is supposed to be impatient for his devotees now seems to hold back, while his own life feels like it is tearing apart as he calls for him to come. Without God, every direction looks empty and desolate, with nowhere to turn. The closing line is a raw, almost wounded question to Panduranga: why will you not listen to me?
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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