Longing, you taught me this need
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आधीं कां मज लावियेली सवे । आतां न राहावे तुजविण ॥1॥
पहिलें चि तोंडक कां गा नाहीं केलें । आतां उपेिक्षलें न सोडीं मी ॥ध्रु.॥
कृपेच्या सागरा न पाहें निर्वाण । जालों तुजवीण कासावीस ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कोठें गुंतलेति हरी । येई झडकरी पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why did You accustom me to You in the first place? Now I cannot bear to be without You. Why did You not reject me at the very start? Now that I am neglected, I will not let go. O ocean of compassion, do not wait for my final ruin. I am desperate without You. Says Tuka, where are You entangled, O Hari? Come quickly, O Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why did you get me used to you in the first place? Now I cannot stay without you. Why did you not turn me away at the very start? Now that you have left me, I will not let go. Ocean of mercy, do not wait for my final ruin. Without you I am in agony. Tuka says: where have you gotten caught, Hari? Come quickly, Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram turns the longing back on God as a complaint: you are the one who created this dependence, so the abandonment is your doing. He refuses the easy exit; having been made to need God, he will not now release his grip. Calling Vitthal an ocean of mercy, he warns that mercy delayed until he is destroyed is no mercy at all. The half-teasing final line, where have you gotten entangled, treats God as a friend who is late, and demands he hurry.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →