Prayer, the foreigner before Death
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सिणलों दातारा करितां वेरझारा । आतां सोडवीं संसारापासोनियां ॥1॥
न सुटे चि बाकी नव्हे झाडापाडा । घातलोंसें खोडा हाडांचिया ॥ध्रु.॥
मायबापें माझीं जीवाचीं सांगाती । तीं देतील हातीं काळाचिया ॥2॥
पडताळूनि सुरी बैसली सेजारीं । यमफासा करीं घेऊनिया ॥3॥
पाठी पोटीं एकें लागलीं सरसीं । नेती नरकापाशीं ओढूनियां ॥4॥
जन साहेभूत असे या सकळां । मी एक निराळा परदेशी ॥5॥
कोणा काकुलती नाहीं कोणे परी । तुजविण हरी कृपाळुवा ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे मज तुझाची भरवसा । ह्मणऊनि आशा मोकलिली ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am weary, O generous Lord, from this endless circling; now free me from this worldly existence. The debt will not clear, the account will not balance; I am shackled in the stocks of these very bones. My parents, the companions of my life, will hand me over to Death's grip. With knife sharpened and ready, Death sits beside me, noose in hand. One after another they press upon me from behind and before, dragging me toward hell. The whole world stands united as witness, and I alone am the stranger, the foreigner. I have no one to plead to, no one at all, except You, O merciful Hari. Says Tuka, my trust is in You alone, and so I have released every other hope.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am worn out, generous Lord, from this endless circling; now free me from this worldly life. The debt will not clear, the account will not balance; I am locked in the stocks made of these bones. My parents, the companions of my life, will hand me over to Death. With knife sharpened and ready, Death sits beside me, noose in hand. One after another they press on me from behind and before, dragging me toward hell. The whole world stands together as witness, and I alone am the stranger, the foreigner. I have no one to plead with, none at all, except you, merciful Hari. Tuka says: my trust is in you alone, and so I have let go of every other hope.
What it means
Tukaram prays from the position of a man with nowhere left to run. He is exhausted by the wheel of birth and death, shackled in the stocks of his own body, with a debt of karma that will never balance. He sees no human ally: even parents, the dearest companions, will finally hand him over to Death, who waits at his side with sharpened knife and noose while forces drag him toward hell. The loneliness is total, he calls himself the one foreigner in a world that stands united against him. That total isolation is the whole force of the prayer: with every other hope deliberately released, his trust falls entirely on the merciful Hari, the only one left to plead with.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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