Plea to be saved, do as good people do
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
घालिती पव्हया । वाटे अनाथाच्या दया ॥1॥
तैसें कां हें नये करूं । पांडुरंगा आह्मां तारूं ॥ध्रु.॥
रोगियासी काढा । देउनि वारितील पीडा ॥2॥
बुडत्यासाटीं उडी । घालितील कां हे जोडी ॥3॥
सारितील कांटे । पुढें मागिलांचे वाटे ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे भार । घेती भागल्यांचा फार ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
People offer food to the hungry and show compassion for the destitute. Why then, O Panduranga, can You not do the same and ferry us across? They give medicine to the sick and relieve their pain. They leap into the water to save the drowning. They clear thorns from the path for those who follow behind. Says Tuka, they carry the heavy loads of the weary; why do You not do likewise?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
People set out drinking water for travelers. They feel pity for the helpless. Why can you not do the same, Panduranga, and ferry us across? They give the sick man his medicine and take away his pain. They jump in to save the drowning. Will you not earn that same merit? They clear the thorns from the path ahead for those who come behind. Tuka says: they take up the heavy loads of the worn-out and weary.
What it means
Tukaram presses God by holding up ordinary human kindness as the standard. People set out water for travelers, pity the helpless, dose the sick, dive in after the drowning, clear thorns from the road for those who follow, and shoulder the burdens of the exhausted. Each example is a gentle accusation: if mere people do this much for one another, why does Panduranga not do as much for the one crying to be ferried across the ocean of worldly life? The prayer turns God's own compassion into a debt he is being asked, lovingly, to honor.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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