Longing, holding God to His own descent
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुमचा तुह्मीं केला गोवा । आतां चुकवितां देवा ॥1॥
कैसें सरे चाळवणें । केलें काशाला शाहाणें ॥ध्रु.॥
कासया रूपा । नांवा आलेति गा बापा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां । न सरे हवाले घालितां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You have entangled Yourself in Your own doing. Now You are trying to escape, O God. How long will this game of teasing go on? Why did You make us wise at all? Why did You take on form? Why did You come into name, O Father? Says Tuka, now it will not do to hand this off to another.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You tangled Yourself in Your own doing. Now You are trying to slip away, O God. How long will this teasing go on? Why did You make us wise at all? Why did You take on form? Why did You come into name, O Father? Tuka says: now it will not do to hand me off to someone else.
What it means
Tukaram turns the tables and holds God accountable for getting involved in the first place. God chose to take form, to take a name, to draw His devotees close and make them long for Him; that entanglement was His own act. So the present distance feels like teasing, an attempt to slip free of a bond God created. Tukaram refuses any substitute: having been awakened by God Himself, he will not be passed off to another and accept anything less than God in person.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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