Devotion as claim on God's duty
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मी उतराई । भाव निरोपूनि पायीं ॥1॥
तुह्मी पुरवावी आळी । करावी ते लडिवाळीं ॥ध्रु.॥
आमचा हा नेम । तुह्मां उचित हा धर्म ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा । जाणों सांगितली सेवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We have paid our debt by offering our devotion at Your feet. Now fulfill our wishes and indulge us as You would Your own children. This is our practice; it is Your rightful duty too. Says Tuka, O God, we know the service that has been asked of us.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
We have paid what we owe, laying our love and faith at Your feet. Now You must grant our wishes and indulge us like Your own children. This is our practice; granting it is Your rightful duty. Tuka says: O God, we know the service that has been asked of us.
What it means
Tukaram speaks of the bond between devotee and God as a mutual settling of accounts. The devotees have cleared their debt by offering their whole devotion at God's feet; now they claim the other side of the bargain, that God indulge them as a parent indulges children. He frames this not as begging but as God's own dharma, the duty owed in return. The closing line says they have done the service that was asked of them, so the rest falls to God. The poem makes devotion a relationship of reciprocal obligation, holding God to His side of love.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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