Reproach, the God who will not let go
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संसाराची कोण गोडी । दिली जोडी करूनि ॥1॥
निष्ठ तूं बहु देवा । पुरे हेवा न ह्मणवी ॥ध्रु.॥
पाहोनियां कर्म डोळां । निराळा तो वर्जीना ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज माझें । ह्मणतां ओझें फुकट ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Who gave this sweetness to worldly life, making it a prize to be won? Truly, O Lord, You are very stubborn; You never say that enough is enough. Seeing with Your own eyes the workings of karma, You do not stand apart or refuse. Says Tuka, my burden is a trifle to You, yet You call it a gratuitous load.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Who gave worldly life its sweetness, and made it a prize to be won? You are very stubborn, Lord; You never say enough is enough. You watch karma working with Your own eyes, yet You stand apart and do not refuse it. Tuka says: my burden is nothing to You, and still You let it weigh on me for no reason.
What it means
Tukaram argues with God about why the world keeps its grip on us. He asks who made bondage taste sweet, so that people chase it as a prize; the answer he implies is God Himself. He calls God obstinate for never calling a halt, for watching the machinery of karma turn and yet refusing to intervene. The complaint lands in the last line: lifting Tukaram's burden would cost God nothing, and so leaving it on his shoulders is a needless cruelty he can name only because he trusts the One he is scolding.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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