Prayer, the child sure the Mother will come
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मायें मोकलिलें कोठें जावें बळें । आपुलिया बळें न वंचे तें ॥1॥
रुसोनियां पळे सांडुनियां ताट । मागें पाहे वाट यावें ऐसीं ॥ध्रु.॥
भांडवल आह्मां आळी करावी हे । आपणें माये धांवसील ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आळी करुनियां निकी । देसील भातुकीं बुझाऊनि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Where can a child go by its own strength when the mother lets it loose? Its own power cannot sustain it. It runs off in a sulk, leaving its plate behind, yet keeps looking back, hoping the mother will come. Our very capital is this: the right to make demands. O Mother, You Yourself will come running. Says Tuka, after the petulant plea is done, You will come with a toy to console me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the mother lets it loose, where can the child go by its own strength? Its own power cannot carry it. It runs off in a sulk, leaving its plate behind, yet keeps looking back, hoping she will come. This is all our wealth: the right to make our demands. O Mother, You Yourself will come running. Tuka says: when the petulant pleading is done, You will come and console me with a toy.
What it means
Tukaram prays in the voice of a small child to God as Mother. He admits he has no strength of his own; if she lets go, he cannot manage. Like a child who sulks and runs off, abandoning his food, he still keeps glancing back, sure the mother will follow. His only capital, he says, is the child's privilege of making demands, of crying and insisting, because the Mother cannot help running to him. The closing line is full of trust: after all the petulant fuss, she will come and quiet him with a small gift. The poem makes helplessness itself the ground of confidence.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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