Prayer, fame against the feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय कीर्ती करूं लोक दंभ मान । दाखवीं चरण तुझे मज ॥1॥
मज आतां ऐसें नको करूं देवा । तुझा दास जावा वांयां विण ॥ध्रु.॥
होइल थोरपण जाणीवेचा भार । दुरावेन दूर तुझा पायीं ॥2॥
अंतरींचा भाव काय कळे लोकां । एक मानी एकां देखोवेखीं ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तुझे पाय आतुडती । ते मज विपित्त गोड देवा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What use is fame, worldly respect, or pride? Show me Your feet, O God. Do not let this happen, O Lord: that Your servant should go to waste for nothing. If greatness and the burden of self-importance grow, I shall drift far from Your feet. What do people know of the feeling within? They judge one another merely by appearances. Says Tuka, even hardship is sweet to me, O God, if it brings me to Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What use to me is fame, the world's respect, or pride? Show me your feet, O God. Do not let this happen, Lord: that your servant should be wasted for nothing. If greatness and the burden of self-importance grow in me, I shall drift far from your feet. What do people know of the feeling within? They judge one another only by appearances. Tuka says: even hardship is sweet to me, O God, if it brings me to your feet.
What it means
Tukaram is praying against his own success. He sees that fame and the world's esteem are not rewards but dangers, because the swelling of self-importance is exactly what would carry him away from God's feet. He asks not to be lost that way, dismissing the crowd's judgment as mere reading of appearances, blind to the heart. The radical turn is at the end: he would rather have suffering than honor, because hardship can keep him close while praise pulls him off. The thing prayed for is nearness to the feet, and everything else, even good fortune, is weighed only by whether it helps or hinders that.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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