Longing, the complaint of the delayed soul
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय तुझी ऐसी वेचते गांठोळी । मांहे टाळाटाळी करीतसां ॥1॥
चतुराच्या राया आहो पांडुरंगा । ऐसें तरि सांगा निवडूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
कोण तुह्मां सुख असे या कवतुकें । भोगितां अनेकें दुःखें आह्मी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे काय जालासी निर्गुण । आह्मां येथें कोण सोडवील ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Is Your treasury truly being depleted? Is that why You keep delaying? O King of the wise, O Panduranga, if that is so, then say it plainly. What pleasure do You find in this game while I endure so many sorrows? Says Tuka, have You become formless and beyond reach? Who then will deliver us here?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Will your treasury run dry if you help me? Is that why you keep putting me off? O King of the wise, O Panduranga, if that is the reason, then say it plainly. What joy do you find in this game, while I go on suffering one sorrow after another? Tuka says: have you turned formless and gone beyond reach? Then who is left to set me free?
What it means
This is the bold, almost teasing complaint of a devotee kept waiting. Tukaram needles God: surely your store of grace is not so small that giving it would empty you, so why the delay? He demands a straight answer from the all-knowing Panduranga and asks what pleasure God can take in a game that is only pain for him. The last line carries the real fear: if God has dissolved into the formless and become unreachable, then there is no one left who can rescue him, which is exactly why he keeps clamoring for the personal Lord to answer.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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