Demand for the real, no more half-measures
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संदेह निरसे तरि रुचिकर । फिक्यासी आदर चवी नाहीं ॥1॥
आतां नको मज खोटएानें फटवूं । कोठें येऊं जाऊं वेळोवेळां ॥ध्रु.॥
गेला तरि काय जीवाचें सांकडें । वांचउनि पुढें काय काज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कसीं निवडा जी बरें । केलीं तैसीं पोरें आळीपायीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If doubt is dispelled, then there is relish in it. For what is bland, there is no savour, no esteem. Now do not dupe me with falsehood. Where am I to keep coming and going, again and again? If the jiva departs, what of it? Having survived thus far, what work remains ahead? Says Tuka, please judge rightly, O Lord. These children You have made fall at Your feet in supplication.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If the doubt is cleared away, then there is real taste in it; what stays bland holds no relish and no honor. Now do not cheat me with falseness. Where am I to keep coming and going, again and again? If this life departs, what of it? Having survived this far, what is left to do? Tuka says: judge it rightly, Lord. These children you have made are falling at your feet, pleading.
What it means
Tukaram refuses to settle for a tepid, half-felt devotion; only the doubt cleared away gives the thing real savor. He presses God to stop putting him off with empty promises, tired of the endless coming and going with no resolution. He even waves away the loss of life itself, asking what more there is to wait for. The closing turns it into a plea for fairness: he and the others are God's own children, fallen at the feet, and he asks the Lord to judge their case honestly.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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