Prayer at the hour of death
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ह्मणऊनी लवलाहें । पाय आहें चिंतीत ॥1॥
पाठिलागा येतो काळ । तूं कृपाळू माउली ॥ध्रु.॥
बहु उसंतीत आलों । तया भ्यालों स्थळासी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तूं जननी । ये निर्वाणीं विठ्ठलें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Therefore I contemplate Your feet with urgency. Death follows close behind, and You are my compassionate mother. I have grown weary through long delay and am frightened of that dreadful station. Says Tuka, You are my mother; come now at this final hour, O Vitthale.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
So I hold your feet in my mind, and I hurry. Death is coming up behind me. You are the merciful mother. I have grown tired with all this delay. I am afraid of that place. Tuka says: you are my mother; come now, at the end, O Vitthal.
What it means
Tukaram prays as a frightened child who knows time is short. He fixes his mind on Vitthal's feet with urgency, because death is already on his heels. The word that carries the whole poem is mother: he does not ask God for a verdict but for the arms a child runs to. He admits he wasted time in delay, that the place death leads to terrifies him, and that he has no merit to bargain with. So he asks only that the mother come at the last moment, when nothing else can help.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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