Surrender, savior of the fallen
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
याती हीन मति हीन कर्म हीन माझें । सांडोनियां सर्व लज्जा शरण आलों तुज ॥1॥
येई गा तूं मायबापा पंढरीच्या राया । तुजविण सीण जाला क्षीण जाली काया ॥ध्रु.॥
दिनानाथ दीनबंधू नाम तुज साजे । पतितपावन नाम ऐसी ब्रीदावळी गाजे॥2॥
विटेवरि वीट उभा कटावरी कर । तुका ह्मणे हें चि आह्मां ध्यान निरंतर ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My caste is low, my intellect is low, my deeds are low. Abandoning all shame, I have come to Your shelter. Come, O my mother and father, O King of Pandhari. Without You, my body is exhausted and my strength has wasted away. You are rightly called the Lord of the meek, the brother of the lowly. Your pledge as the savior of the fallen resounds everywhere. Says Tuka, standing upon the brick, hands upon the hips; this alone is our meditation, day and night.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My caste is low, my mind is low, my deeds are low. Throwing off all shame, I have come to your shelter. Come, O mother and father, O King of Pandhari. Without you my body is worn out, my strength is gone. You are rightly called Lord of the meek, brother of the lowly; your title as the one who saves the fallen rings out everywhere. Brick upon brick he stands, hands upon his hips. Tuka says: this alone is our meditation, without end.
What it means
Tukaram strips himself of every claim, naming his low birth, low understanding, and low deeds, and lays aside even shame to throw himself on God's mercy. He calls Vitthal mother and father and King of Pandhari, and tells him plainly that life is unbearable without him. Then he turns the Lord's own reputation into his plea, that God is famed as the protector of the meek and the savior of the fallen, so a fallen one like Tuka is precisely his rightful business. The poem rests at last on the image that is enough for him: Vitthal standing on the brick with hands on his hips, an image he holds as his ceaseless meditation.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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