Bold complaint, reveal yourself now
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कां हो माझा मानियेला भार । ऐसा दिसे फार । अनंत पावविलीं उद्धार । नव्हे चि थार मज शेवटीं ॥1॥
पाप बिळवंत गाढें । तुज ही राहों सकतें पुढें । मागील कांहीं राहिलें ओढें । नवल कोडें देखियेलें ॥2॥
काय मानिती संतजन । तुमचें हीनत्ववचन। कीं वृद्ध जाला नारायण । न चले पण आधील तो ॥3॥
आतां न करावी चोरी । बहुत न धरावें दुरी । पडदा काय घरच्याघरीं । धरिलें दुरी तेव्हां धरिलें ॥4॥
नको चाळवूं अनंता । कासया होतोसि नेणता । काय तूं नाहीं धरीत सत्ता । तुका ह्मणे आतां होई प्रगट ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why, does my burden seem so heavy to You? Countless others have been delivered before. Am I the one who can never be saved? Is my sin so formidable that even You cannot stand before it? Has something from the past remained unpaid? What a strange riddle this is. What will the saints think, hearing such words of helplessness from You? Has Narayana grown old, unable to keep His former promise? Now do not play games or hold me at a distance. Why put up walls within Your own household? What was once grasped, let it remain grasped. Do not trifle with me, O Infinite One. Why do You pretend not to know? Do You not hold all authority? Says Tuka, reveal Yourself now.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why, does my weight seem so heavy to you? You have saved countless others. Am I the only one who finds no resting place at the end? Is my sin so strong, so massive, that even you cannot stand before it? Has some old debt of mine stayed unpaid? What a strange riddle I am looking at. What will the saints think of you, hearing such words of helplessness? Has Narayana grown old, so that he can no longer keep his earlier promise? Now do not play tricks. Do not hold me so far off. Why a curtain inside your own house? What you have held at a distance, you held at a distance long enough. Do not toy with me, O Infinite One. Why do you act as if you do not know? Do you not hold all power? Tuka says: now show yourself.
What it means
Tukaram presses his case against the Lord like a man arguing with one who owes him. He points to the record: countless souls already saved, so why should he alone be left with no resting place, unless his sin is somehow too strong even for God, which he plainly does not believe. He turns the shame back on the Lord, asking what the saints will think of such helpless silence, and whether Narayana has grown too old to keep his ancient promise to deliver. The harshness is aimed at the delay and the hiding, the curtain inside God's own house, not at any real doubt of God's power. The plea lands as a demand born of trust: stop pretending not to know, drop the games, and reveal yourself now.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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