Prayer, let nothing else attract me
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नावडावें जन नावडावा मान । करूनि प्रमाण तूं चि होई ॥1॥
सोडुनि देहसंबंध वेसनें । ऐसी नारायणें कृपा कीजे॥ध्रु.॥
नावडावें रूप नावडावे रस । अवघी राहो आस पायांपाशीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां आपुलिया सत्ता । करूनि अनंता ठेवा ऐसें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let worldly people not be loved, let honor not be loved. May You alone become my standard and authority. May the bonds and addictions of the body fall away. May Narayana grant such grace. Let forms not attract me, let flavors not attract me; may all my longing rest only at Your feet. Says Tuka, now by Your own power, O Infinite One, keep me established in this state.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let me not love the crowd. Let me not love honor. Make Yourself the only measure I go by. Let the body's ties and addictions fall away. O Narayana, grant me this grace. Let no form attract me. Let no taste attract me. Let all my longing rest at Your feet. Tuka says: now by Your own power, O Infinite One, keep me settled like this.
What it means
This is a prayer to have the wrong attractions cut out at the root, one by one. Tukaram asks not to be moved by the approval of people or by his own honor, and instead to take God as his single standard for everything. He names the body's cravings and the pull of beautiful forms and pleasant tastes, and asks that the grip of each be loosened. The whole longing of his life is to be gathered up and laid at Vitthal's feet. The closing turn is the key: he admits he cannot hold this state by his own willpower, so he asks the Infinite to keep him fixed there by God's own power, not his.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
More in this theme →