Prayer, the beggar at the door
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मागता भिकारी जालों तुझे द्वारीं । देई मज हरी कृपादान ॥1॥
प्रेम प्रीति नाम उचित करावें । भावें संचरावें हृदयामाजी ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्वभावें शरण आलों पांडुरंगा । कृपाळु तूं जगामाजी एक ॥2॥
तापत्रयें माझी तापविली काया । शीतळ व्हावया पाय तुझे ॥3॥
संबंधीं जनवाद पीडलों परोपरी । अंतरलों दुरी तुजसी तेणें ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां तुझा शरणागता । करावें सनाथ मायबापा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have become a beggar at Your door; grant me the gift of mercy, O Hari. Let love and devotion and Your name fill my heart and dwell within it. With my whole being I have come to You for shelter, O Panduranga; in all the world, You alone are compassionate. The three afflictions have scorched my body; only Your feet can cool me. Worldly ties and public opinion have tormented me endlessly and kept me far from You. Says Tuka, I am now Your refugee; make me whole, O mother and father.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have become a beggar at Your door; grant me the gift of mercy, O Hari. Let love and devotion and Your name take their rightful place; with feeling, let them enter and dwell in my heart. With my whole being I have come to You for shelter, O Panduranga; in all the world You alone are merciful. The three afflictions have scorched my body; only Your feet can cool me. Worldly ties and the talk of people have tormented me again and again, and through them I have been kept far from You. Tuka says: now I am one who has taken Your shelter; make me whole, O mother and father.
What it means
Tukaram comes empty-handed and says so, taking the lowest posture, a beggar at the door, to ask only for mercy. He names what is burning him: the three classical afflictions, and the endless pressure of relationships and public opinion that he says have actually held him away from God. His request is not for relief from circumstances but for love, devotion, and the Name to move in and live in his heart. Calling Vitthal both mother and father, he asks the one he counts as the world's only truly merciful one to make him whole, the work a parent does for a helpless child.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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