Prayer, your honor is at stake
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ठायींची ओळखी । येइल टाकुं टाका सुखीं ॥१॥
तुमचा जाईल ईमान । माझे कपाळीं पतन ॥ध्रु.॥
ठेविला तो ठेवा । अभिळाषें बुडवावा ॥२॥
मनीं न विचारा । तुका म्हणे हे दातारा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If you recognize me as your own from the very beginning, then abandon me happily if you wish. Your honor will be at stake, and ruin will be written on my forehead. Whatever you have placed as my lot, let it remain. Says Tuka, I leave all in your keeping.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You have known me as your own from the start; abandon me freely now if you like. But your honor will be the thing that goes, and ruin will be written on my forehead. Whatever lot you have placed on me, let it stay. Tuka says: do not turn it over in your mind, O giver.
What it means
Tukaram dares God with a kind of holy bluntness: you have recognized me as yours from the beginning, so go ahead and drop me if you wish. But he names the cost to God, not to himself: it is God's good name that would be lost, even as ruin lands on Tukaram's own head. He accepts whatever fate God has set for him without complaint. The last line asks the generous Lord not to deliberate or weigh the matter, but simply to hold him.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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