Prayer, the mother will not kill her child
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
किती तुजपाशीं देऊं परिहार । जाणसी अंतर पांडुरंगा॥1॥
आतां माझें हातीं देई हित । करीं माझें चित्त समाधान॥ध्रु.॥
राग आला तरी कापूं नये मान । बाळा मायेविण कोण दुजें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसा होईल लौकिक । मागे बाळ भीक समर्थाचें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How many excuses shall I offer You? You know the truth within, O Panduranga. Now place my welfare in my own hands; bring peace to my restless mind. Even in anger, a mother should not cut the child's throat; who else does the child have besides its mother? Says Tuka, what a spectacle it would be: a child of the Capable One begging in the streets.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How many excuses shall I keep offering you? You know what is inside, Panduranga. Now put my good into my own hands; settle my restless mind into peace. Even when she is angry, a mother does not cut the child's throat; whom does the child have but its mother? Tuka says: what a public disgrace it would be, the child of the Capable One begging in the street.
What it means
Tukaram stops making excuses, since God already sees the truth within, and instead presses his claim as a child presses a parent. His argument is the mother's instinct: however angry she gets, she will not slaughter her own child, because the child has no one else. He turns this against God's reputation, the laukik, the public verdict: it would shame the Almighty if his own child were left begging in the streets. The prayer is not for comfort alone but for God to honor the bond that makes him responsible.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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