Longing, the servant left forgotten
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं उल्लंघिले कोणाचे वचन । मज कां नारायण दुरी जाला ॥1॥
अशंकितें मनें करीं आळवण । नाहीं समाधान नििंश्चतीचें ॥ध्रु.॥
दासांचा विसर हें तों अनुचित । असे सर्व नीत पायांपाशीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मां लाज येत नाहीं । आह्मां चिंताडोहीं बुडवितां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have not transgressed anyone's word. Why then has Narayana become distant from me? With an undoubting mind I keep calling out, yet the certainty of His reassurance does not come. To forget one's servant is not fitting. All right conduct and justice reside at Your feet. Says Tuka, are You not ashamed to drown us in this deep pool of worry?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have not broken anyone's word. Why then has Narayana grown distant from me? With an unwavering mind I keep calling out, yet the peace of being reassured never comes. To forget Your servant is not fitting. All right conduct and justice rest at Your feet. Tuka says: are You not ashamed to drown us in this deep pool of worry?
What it means
Tukaram protests an absence he has done nothing to earn. He has kept faith and broken no promise, so God's distance feels like injustice rather than punishment. He keeps calling without doubt, but the answering calm never arrives. He reminds Narayana that forgetting one's own servant goes against the very justice that lives at God's feet. The last line is bold to the edge of accusation: he asks whether God feels no shame at leaving his devotees to drown in worry. The boldness is itself a form of trust.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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