Prayer, claiming the Lord's mercy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुजकरितां होतें आनाचें आन । तारिले पाषाण उदकीं देवा ॥1॥
कां नये कैवार करूं अंगीकार । माझा बहु भार चड जाला ॥ध्रु.॥
चुकलासी ह्मणों तरी जीवांचा ही जीव । रिता नाहीं ठाव उरों दिला ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसें काय सत्ताबळ । माझे परी कृपाळ आहां तुह्मी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
For Your sake the impossible became possible: even stones floated upon the water, O God. Why then can You not take up my cause and accept me? My burden has grown very heavy. You might say You overlooked me, but You are the very life of all life; You have not left a single space unoccupied. Says Tuka, such is Your sovereign power; surely You can show that same mercy to me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
For Your sake the impossible became possible; even stones floated on the water, God. Why then can You not take up my cause and accept me? My burden has grown very heavy. Should I say You overlooked me? But You are the very life of all life; You have left no place empty. Tuka says: such is Your sovereign power. Surely You are merciful enough to save someone like me.
What it means
Tukaram presses his case to God by arguing from God's own record. The one who once made stones float on the water can surely take up the cause of a struggling devotee whose load has grown too heavy to carry. He blocks the only excuse in advance: God cannot claim to have missed him, because God is the life within all life and has left no space unoccupied, so there is nowhere Tukaram could be that God is not. The prayer rests on power joined to mercy. If such sovereign power is real, then withholding rescue is not inability but choice, and Tukaram appeals to the mercy that he trusts will not let that choice fall against him.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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