Longing, hold me to the promise
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय त्या दिवस उचिताचा आला । मागील जो केला श्रम होता ॥1॥
ठेवियेला पूर्ण करूनि संकेत । तयापाशीं चित्त लागलें से ॥ध्रु.॥
जाणसी गे माते लेंकराचें लाड । नये पडों आड निष्ठता ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मीं करावें वचन । तुह्मांसी जतन करणें तें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Has the day of fulfillment finally arrived, making worthwhile all the labor that was done before? You set the appointed time and made Your promise; my chitta is now fixed upon that. You know, O Mother, the tender ways of a child; do not let stubbornness come between us. Says Tuka, it is our part to keep our word, and Yours to safeguard it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Has the day of fulfillment finally come, making all the earlier labor worthwhile? You set the time and made your promise; my heart is now fixed on that. You know, O Mother, the tender ways of a child; do not let stubbornness come between us. Tuka says: it is our part to keep our word, and yours to safeguard it.
What it means
Tukaram asks whether the long-awaited day has arrived, the one that would redeem all his earlier toil. He reminds God of an appointed time and a promise made, and says his whole attention is now pinned on it. Addressing God as Mother, he appeals to a parent's softness toward a child and pleads that no hardness be allowed to stand between them. He frames it as a mutual bond: the devotee's duty is to keep his word faithfully, and God's duty is to honor and protect the promise given.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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