Longing, naming the price of meeting
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पंचािग्नसाधन करूं धूम्रपान । काय तीर्थाटण करूं सांग ॥1॥
सांग कोणे देशीं आहे तुझें गांव । घेऊनियां धांव येऊं तेथें ॥ध्रु.॥
सांग कांहीं वृत्त कोण करूं व्रत । जेणें कृपावंत होशील तूं ॥2॥
वाटतें सेवटीं जालासि निष्ठ । न देसी उत्तर तुका ह्मणे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Shall I perform the five-fire penance, or inhale smoke in austerity? Shall I go on pilgrimages? Tell me. Tell me in which land Your abode lies, and I will run there at once. Tell me what vow or observance I should undertake to make You gracious. Says Tuka, it seems that in the end You have become indifferent. You give me no answer.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Should I do the five-fire penance, or breathe in smoke as austerity? Should I go on pilgrimages? Tell me. Tell me in what land your village is, and I will run there at once. Tell me what observance, what vow I should keep, so that you will become merciful. Tuka says: it seems that in the end you have become hard. You give me no answer.
What it means
Tukaram lays out the whole catalogue of effort, the harshest penances and the longest pilgrimages, and offers to do any of it, if only God will name the price of meeting. The questions are real offers, not boasts; he is ready to run to whatever land holds God's village. But the offers meet silence, and that silence is the real subject. The ending names the wound plainly: I have asked you everything and you have turned hard and given no answer, leaving the seeker holding a willingness God will not receive.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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