Prayer of the fallen, mercy is your duty
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मीं पतितांनीं घालावें सांकडें । तुह्मां लागे कोडें उगवणें ॥1॥
आचरतां दोष न धरूं सांभाळ । निवाड उकल तुह्मां हातीं ॥ध्रु.॥
न घेतां कवडी करावा कुढावा । पाचारितां देवा नामासाठीं ॥2॥
दयासिंधु नाम पतितपावन । हें आह्मां वचन सांपडलें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे करूं अन्यायाच्या कोटी । कृपावंत पोटीं तूं चि देवा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It is the nature of the fallen to importune, and it is Your duty to resolve their plight, O God. When I commit offenses, I cannot protect myself. The verdict and the settlement rest in Your hands alone. Even without paying a single shell, I cry out to You for the sake of the Name. The title "Ocean of Mercy" and "Purifier of the Fallen" has come into my possession. Says Tuka, I shall commit wrongs by the million. You alone, O God, hold compassion deep within You.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It is for us, the fallen, to bring our troubles to you, and it is your work to untangle them, O God. When I do wrong I cannot save myself. The verdict and the settlement are in your hands alone. Without my paying a single shell, do my work; I call on you for the sake of the Name. The titles Ocean of Mercy and Purifier of the Fallen have come into my keeping. Tuka says: I will commit wrongs by the million. You alone, O God, hold compassion deep within you.
What it means
This is a bold prayer that turns its own unworthiness into a claim on God. Tukaram says it is simply the nature of the fallen to bring their troubles, and it is therefore God's own work to resolve them; the broken cannot fix themselves, so the verdict rests entirely with God. He presses harder: he pays nothing, he comes only in the name's name, and he holds God to the titles God already wears, Ocean of Mercy and Purifier of the Fallen. The audacious closing line, that he will sin by the millions, is not a license to sin but a measuring of mercy: he is staking everything on the truth that God's compassion is deeper than any count of his offenses.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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