Prayer, the muddy stream and the Ganga
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तूं श्रीयेचा पति । माझी बहु हीन याती ॥1॥
दोघे असों एके ठायीं । माझा माथा तुझे पायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
माझ्या दीनपणां पार । नाहीं बहु तूं उदार ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पांडुरंगा । मी ओहोळ तूं गंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You are the Lord of Lakshmi; my caste is very lowly. Yet let us dwell together in one place, with my head at Your feet. There is no limit to my poverty, and You are boundlessly generous. Says Tuka, O Panduranga, I am a muddy stream and You are the Ganga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You are the Lord of Lakshmi; my birth is very low. Still, let the two of us stay in one place, my head at Your feet. There is no limit to how poor I am; there is no limit to how generous You are. Tuka says: O Panduranga, I am a small dirty stream, and You are the Ganga.
What it means
Tukaram sets his lowness beside God's greatness and asks them to share a single place anyway. He does not hide the gap: he is of low birth and bottomless poverty, while God is the consort of Fortune herself and boundlessly giving. His one request is closeness on the only terms he can offer, his head laid at the feet. The closing image makes the whole prayer turn on God's nature, not Tuka's worth: a muddy trickle has no claim on the Ganga, yet when it pours in, the Ganga receives and purifies it. His hope rests entirely on the generosity, not on his own standing.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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