Longing, the exiled fawn
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कुरंगीपाडस चुकलेसे वनीं । फुटे दुःखेंकरोनि हृदय त्याचें ॥1॥
तैसा परदेशी जालों तुजविण । नको हो निर्वाण पाहूं माझें ॥ध्रु.॥
अपराध्याच्या कोटि घालीं सर्व पोटीं । नको या शेवटीं उपेक्षूं गा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे असों द्यावी माझी चिंता । कृपाळु अनंता पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Like a fawn separated from its mother in the forest, my heart breaks with anguish. Just so have I become an exile without You. Do not look on at my final destruction, O Lord. Forgive millions of offenses; put them all into Your belly. Do not forsake me at this end. Says Tuka, let my worry remain with You, O merciful Ananta, O Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Like a fawn that has lost its mother in the forest, its heart breaking with grief, so I have become an exile without You. Do not stand and watch my final ruin. I have committed millions of offenses; take them all into Your belly. Do not forsake me at this end. Tuka says: let my care be Yours to carry, O merciful Ananta, O Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram cries out from the pain of feeling cut off from God. He compares himself to a fawn that has lost its mother in the forest, its heart splitting with anguish, and says that without the Lord he is exactly that lost and that homeless. He begs God not to be a bystander to his destruction, and asks Him to swallow up the millions of wrongs he has done, to take them inside and make them disappear. The final plea is total surrender: do not abandon me now, and let my worry no longer be mine but Yours, merciful Ananta, Panduranga.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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