Longing, holding God to his word
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐक पांडुरंगा एक मात । कांहीं बोलणें आहे एकांत । आह्मां जरी तारील संचित । तरी उचित काय तुझें ॥1॥
उसनें फेडितां धर्म तो कोण । काय तया मानवेल जन । काय गा मिरवूनि भूषण । वांयां थोरपण जनांमध्यें ॥ध्रु.॥
अन्न जरी न मिळे तयासी देणें । आगांतुक पात्र उचित दान । उपकार तरी धनमंत्रीपणें । जरी देणेंघेणें नाहीं आशा ॥2॥
शूर तों तयासी बोलिजे जाणा । पाठीशीं घालूनि राखे दीना । पार पुण्य नाहीं त्या भूषणा । ऐक नारायणा वचन हें ॥3॥
आतां पुढें बोलणें तें काई । मज तारिसी तरी च सही । वचन आपुलें सिद्धी नेई । तुका ह्मणे तई मज कळसी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Listen, O Panduranga, to one thing. I have something to say in private. If my accumulated merit alone could save me, then what would be Your role? When one merely repays a debt, what virtue is there in that? Will the world respect such a thing? Why flaunt ornaments of greatness among people for nothing? If a gift is not given to one who has nothing to eat, if charity is not offered to the deserving guest, if beneficence is claimed only through the possession of wealth and power when there is no real selfless giving, then what is it worth? A true hero is one who shelters the weak behind him. There is no limit to the merit of such a one. Hear this, O Narayana. Now what more is there to say? If You save me, then indeed it is proven. Fulfill Your own word. Says Tuka, only then will I know You.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Listen, Panduranga, to one thing. I have something to say in private. If my own stored-up merit could save me, then what would your part be? When a man only pays back a debt, where is the virtue in that? Would the world respect it? Why flaunt the ornament of greatness among people for nothing? If you give no food to one who has none, if you offer no charity to the guest who deserves it, if you call it kindness only because you have wealth and power, when there is no real giving, what is it worth? A true hero, know this, is the one who shelters the weak behind him. There is no limit to the merit of that ornament. Hear this, Narayana. Now what more is there to say? If you save me, then it is truly proven. Make your own word come true. Tuka says: only then will I know you.
What it means
Tukaram makes a quiet, almost legal argument to Panduranga. If his own accumulated merit were enough to save him, God would have no role and would deserve no credit, the way repaying a plain debt earns no gratitude. So he turns it around: real greatness is not in giving to those who can repay or in boasting of wealth, but in sheltering the weak who can offer nothing back. By that standard the truly helpless devotee is exactly the occasion for God to show his glory. The challenge in the closing lines is bold but reverent: God has promised to save those who surrender, so let him make his own word come true, because only then, Tukaram says, will he truly know who God is.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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