Prayer, take me and drown me in love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
किती विवंचना करीतसें जीवीं । मन धांवडवी दाही दिशा ॥1॥
कोणा एका भावें तुह्मी अंगीकार । करावा विचार या च साटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
इतर ते आतां लाभ तुच्छ जाले । अनुभवा आले गुणागुण ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे लागो अखंड समाधि । जावें प्रेमबोधीं बुडोनियां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How much more deliberation must I carry in my mind? The mind races in all ten directions. By some way or another, please accept me, O Lord; this is my only purpose. All other gains now seem worthless; their qualities and flaws have been experienced. Says Tuka, may unbroken absorption take hold, and may I drown in the ocean of divine love.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How much weighing and figuring do I carry in my heart? My mind runs off in all ten directions. By some one feeling, take me as Your own; consider it, for this alone. All other gains look worthless to me now. I have tasted their good and their bad. Tuka says: let an unbroken absorption take hold, and let me go down, drowning, into the knowing of love.
What it means
Tukaram is worn out by the mind's endless calculation and asks God to end it by simply accepting him. He pleads that God find some single ground of feeling on which to claim him, since that is the one thing he wants. He explains why nothing else will do: he has tested every other gain, weighed its merits and faults, and found them all worthless. The closing prayer names what he is reaching for instead, an unbroken samadhi in which he drowns completely in the knowledge of divine love.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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