Devotion, no more hide-and-seek
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दूरि तों चि होतों आपुले आशंके । नव्हतें ठाउकें मूळभेद ॥1॥
आतां जेथें तेथें येइन सांगातें । लपाया पुरतें उरों नेदीं ॥ध्रु.॥
मिथ्या मोहें मज लाविला उशीर । तरी हे अंतर जालें होतें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कां रे दाखविसी भिन्न । लटिका चि सीण लपंडाई ॥3
3487. कळों नये तों चि चुकावितां बरें । मग पाठमोरें काय काज ॥
1॥ धरिलेती आतां द्या जी माझा डाव । सांपडतां भाव ऐसा आहे ॥
ध्रु.॥ होतासी अंतरें झाकिलिया डोळीं । तो मी हा न्याहाळीं धरुनी दृष्टी ॥
2॥ तुका ह्मणे तुज रडीची च खोडी । अहाच बराडी तो मी नव्हे ।.3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I was distant before out of my own doubt; I did not know the fundamental truth. Now, wherever You go, I will follow; I will not let You hide so completely. False attachment caused me needless delay, and that is how this distance arose. Says Tuka, why do You show Yourself as separate? This hiding game brings only pointless fatigue.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I stayed far away before, out of my own doubt. I did not know the root truth. Now, wherever you go, I will follow. I will not leave you room enough to hide. False attachment made me late, and that is how this distance came. Tuka says: why do you show yourself as separate from me? This hiding game is only pointless tiredness.
What it means
Tukaram speaks to God as one player calls out the other in a game of hide-and-seek that is over. He admits the distance was his own: doubt held him back, and false attachment delayed him, so he did not know that he and God share one root. Now he refuses to let God keep his distance, vowing to follow everywhere and leave no hiding place. The harsh line turns the complaint back on the seeming separation itself: if there is no real difference, the hiding is only wasted effort, fatigue for nothing.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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