Refuge, desire's torment lifted
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कामें पीडिलों माया । बहु मारी नाहीं दया ॥१॥
तुझ्या राहिलों आधारें । जालें अवघें चि बरें ॥ध्रु.॥
तुझे लागलों संगती । आतां येतों काकुळती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुझ्या भिडा । कान्होबा हे गेली पीडा ॥३॥
टिपरी - अभंग ७
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Desire has tormented me, and illusion beats me without mercy. I have survived only by leaning on you; through you, everything has turned out well. Now that I have found your company, I come to you pleading with folded hands. Says Tuka, O Krishna, by your pressing grace this suffering has departed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Desire has tormented me; illusion beats me without mercy. I have stayed alive only by leaning on you; through you everything has turned out well. Now that I have your company, I come to you pleading. Tuka says: Krishna, by the pressing of your grace this suffering has gone.
What it means
This is a prayer spoken from inside affliction, not after it. Tukaram does not soften how hard desire and illusion strike; they beat him without mercy. What keeps him standing is not his own strength but leaning on Krishna, and he comes openly as a beggar with folded hands rather than as a master of himself. The relief, when it comes, is credited entirely to grace that presses in and drives the suffering out. The stakes are survival: he says plainly that this leaning is the only reason he is still here.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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