Prayer, all in God's hands
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माता कापी गळा । तेथें कोण राखी बाळा ॥1॥
हें कां नेणां नारायणा । मज चाळवितां दिना ॥ध्रु.॥
नागवी धावणें । तेथें साहए व्हावें कोणें ॥2॥
राजा सर्व हरी । तेथें दुजा कोण वारी ॥3॥
तुझ्या केल्याविण । नव्हे िस्थर वश जन ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे हरी। सूत्र तुह्मां हातीं दोरी॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When a mother herself cuts her child's throat, who will protect the infant? Do You not know this, O Narayana? Why do You toy with this helpless one? When the very guide leads one astray, who can come to the rescue? When the king himself plunders everything, who else can intervene? Without Your will, no one can be made still and obedient. Says Tuka, O Hari, the string and the thread of this puppet-show are in Your hands.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the mother herself cuts the throat, who will protect the child? Do you not know this, Narayana, that you toy with this helpless one? When the rescuer himself strips you bare, who is there to help? When the king himself plunders all, who else can stop it? Without your doing, no one is made steady or obedient. Tuka says: Hari, the strings and the cord are in your hands.
What it means
Tukaram is praying out of total helplessness, and he says it with stark images. If the very mother kills the child, there is no protector left; if the rescuer robs you, the king plunders you, then no other refuge exists. He is telling Narayana that God is exactly such a one, the only source of safety, and so it is cruel to play with a helpless devotee. The closing line resolves the complaint into surrender: nothing in him grows steady or obedient on its own, for the strings of this puppet are entirely in Hari's hands, so whatever happens to him is God's to do.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
More in this theme →