Longing, plead of the unworthy servant
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हावा तो बरा मुळीं च संबंध । विश्वासिकां वध बोलिलासे ॥1॥
आतां माझें हित काय तें विचारा । सत्यत्वें दातारा पांडुरंगा ॥ध्रु ॥
नाहीं भाव परी ह्मणवितों दास । नका देऊं यास उणेंयेऊं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कां हो उद्धरितां दीन । मानीतसां सीण मायबापा॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It would have been better had this bond never formed at all; a betrayal of trust is a slaying of the faithful. Now consider my true welfare, O Panduranga, with honest intent. I may lack devotion, yet I call myself Your servant; do not let any lack come to that claim. Says Tuka, why do You grow weary of uplifting the fallen, O Mother and Father?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It would have been better if this bond had never formed at all. To betray those who trust is to kill the faithful. Now think of my true good, Panduranga, in honesty, O giver. I have no real devotion, yet I call myself Your servant. Do not let that claim fall short. Tuka says: why do You grow weary of lifting up the lowly, Mother and Father?
What it means
Tukaram presses a claim on God out of the very relationship between them. He says the bond itself, once made, must not be broken, for to betray one who trusts is as good as killing the faithful; having drawn him in, the Lord owes him his true welfare. He admits frankly that he lacks devotion, yet he has taken the name of servant, and he begs that this claim not be left wanting. The closing question is pointed and tender at once: why should the Lord, who is mother and father, ever tire of the work of raising up the fallen, since that is exactly His nature?
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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