Prayer, lift me onto Your hip
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पुरली धांव कडिये घेई । पुढें पायीं न चलवीं ॥1॥
कृपाळुवे पांडुरंगे । अंगसंगे जिवलगे ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघी निवारावी भूक। अवघ्या दुःख जन्माचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बोलवेना । लावीं स्तनां विश्वरें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The running is over; take me upon Your hip, O Panduranga. Do not make me walk any further on my own feet, O merciful, beloved companion. Satisfy all my hunger, all the suffering of these many births. Says Tuka, I can no longer speak; press me to Your breast, O Mother of the universe.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My running is over; take me up onto Your hip. Do not make me walk any further on my own feet. O merciful Panduranga, joined to me body to body, my dearest one. Take away all my hunger, all the sorrow of these many births. Tuka says: I can speak no more. Hold me to Your breast, O Mother of the universe.
What it means
Tukaram prays as a worn-out child to a mother who is also God. He has run as far as he can and asks to be carried, lifted onto the hip, no longer forced to walk on his own feet. He calls Panduranga merciful and beloved, close as body to body, and asks that all hunger and all the suffering gathered across many births be ended at once. At the close his words run out, and the appeal becomes wholly bodily: hold me to Your breast, mother of all the worlds. The whole prayer is a surrender of effort into being held.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
More in this theme →