Humility, the worn threshold stone
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
रुळें महाद्वारीं । पायांखालील पायरी ॥1॥
तैसें माझें दंडवत । सांगा निरोप हा संत ॥ध्रु.॥
पडे दंडकाठी । देह भलतीसवा लोटी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बाळ । लोळे न धरितां सांभाळ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Like a threshold stone that lies worn underfoot at the great gate, such is my prostration. O saints, carry this message of mine. My body falls like a staff wherever it is flung. Says Tuka, like an infant who rolls about without anyone to hold him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Like the bottom step worn smooth underfoot at the great gate, such is my prostration. O saints, carry this message of mine. My body falls like a thrown stick, tossed down any which way. Tuka says: like a child who rolls about with no one to hold him.
What it means
Tukaram lowers himself completely and asks the saints to carry his message to God. He compares his prostration to the lowest step at the great temple gate, the stone everyone treads on, worn smooth by feet. His body, he says, drops like a staff flung down carelessly, with no will of its own. The closing image is the most tender: a small child rolling on the ground with no one to pick it up. It is the cry of total dependence, asking the saints to be the arms that carry him to the God who can hold him.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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