Longing, is God asleep
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुह्मांसी हें अवघें ठावें । किती द्यावें स्मरण ॥1॥
कां बा तुह्मी ऐसें नेणें । निष्ठपणें टािळत असां ॥ध्रु.॥
आळवितां मायबापा । नये कृपा अझूनि ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जगदीशा । काय असां निजेले ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You know all of this already; how many times must I remind You? Why, O Lord, do You pretend not to know and keep putting me off so stubbornly? Though I call upon You as a child calls its parents, still Your mercy does not come. Says Tuka, O Lord of the universe, are You asleep?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You already know all of this. How many times must I remind you? Why do you act as if you do not know, and keep putting me off so stubbornly? I call on you as a child calls its mother and father, and still your mercy does not come. Tuka says: Lord of the world, are you asleep?
What it means
Tukaram presses God with the boldness of one who is sure of the bond. God knows his whole need already, so why must he keep reminding him, and why does God pretend not to know and stall? He has cried out the way a child cries to its parents, and still no mercy comes. The verse ends with the famous challenge: are you asleep? The complaint is not contempt but the licensed protest of love that trusts enough to demand an answer.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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