Longing, why have you forgotten me
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भक्तिप्रतिपाळे दीन वो वत्सळे । विठ्ठले कृपाळे होसी माये ॥१॥
पडिला विसर माझा काय गुणें । कपाळ हें उणें काय करूं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझें जाळूनि संचित । करीं वो उचित भेट देई ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O Vitthala, you who cherish devotion, who are tender as a cow to her calf toward the humble and full of mercy, O Mother. Have you forgotten me on account of some fault of mine? What can I do about my poor fate? Says Tuka, burn away my accumulated destiny and grant me the meeting that is rightfully due.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You who cherish devotion, tender to the lowly. O Vitthala, merciful one, you are my mother. Have you forgotten me? For what fault of mine? My fate is poor; what can I do about it? Tuka says: burn away the destiny I have stored up. Do what is fitting, and grant me the meeting.
What it means
Tukaram begins by naming Vitthala's own nature, the cherisher of devotion, mother to the lowly, full of mercy, and then asks how such a one could forget him. He does not accuse God; he turns the question on himself and his fate, wondering what fault has caused the silence. The accumulated destiny he asks to be burned is the store of past karma that he feels is keeping him apart from the Lord. His final plea leaves the remedy to God: do what is fitting, undo the obstacle, and grant the meeting that mercy itself seems to owe.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
More in this theme →