Prayer, take me up out of the wheel
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पापपुण्यसुखदुःखाचीं मंडळें । एक एकाबळें वाव घेती ॥1॥
कवतुक डोळां पाहिलें सकळ । नाचवितो काळ जीवांसी तो ॥ध्रु.॥
स्वर्गाचिया भोगें सरतां नरक । मागें पुढें एक एक दोन्ही ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भय उपजलें मना । घेई नारायणा कडिये मज ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The circles of sin and merit, joy and sorrow, each overtake the other by turns. I have watched this spectacle with my own eyes: Time makes all beings dance. When the pleasures of heaven are exhausted, hell follows. Before and behind, each of the two alternates endlessly. Says Tuka, fear has arisen in my mind. Take me upon Your hip, O Narayana.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The rings of sin and merit, of joy and sorrow, each overtakes the other by turns. I have watched the whole show with my own eyes: Time makes all living beings dance. When the pleasures of heaven run out, hell comes next; behind and ahead, the two keep trading places. Tuka says: fear has risen in my mind. Lift me onto your hip, Narayana.
What it means
Tukaram is looking at the wheel of reward and punishment and seeing no rest in it: merit buys heaven, but when the merit is spent, hell follows, and the two simply alternate without end. He calls it a spectacle, a dance that Time choreographs over every creature, and watching it honestly is what frightens him. The fear is not weakness but clear sight; he knows that even the highest reward is temporary and will reverse. So he does not ask for better fortune within the wheel. He asks Narayana to pick him up like a child onto the hip, to be carried out of the turning altogether by grace rather than earning.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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