Plea to the saints, a child to its mother
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मायेवरी सत्ता आवडीची बाळा । संकोचोनि लळा प्रतिपाळी ॥1॥
अपराध माझे न मनावे मनीं । तुह्मी संतजनीं मायबापीं ॥ध्रु.॥
आरुष वचन लेंकुराची आळी । साहोनि कवळी मागुताली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे अंगीं काय नाहीं सत्ता । परि निष्ठता उपेजना ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A child exercises its will over its mother through sheer love; she contains her feelings and nurtures the child all the same. Do not hold my offenses against me, O saints, O parents. A mother endures the harsh words and tantrums of her child, then gathers it up again in her arms. Says Tuka, she has the power and authority, yet she never turns cruel.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A child rules its mother through sheer love; she holds back her own feelings and raises it anyway. Do not hold my offenses against me, O saints, my mother and father. A mother bears her child's rude words and tantrums, then gathers it up again into her arms. Tuka says: she has all the power, yet cruelty never rises in her.
What it means
Tukaram pleads with the saints to forgive his faults, using the bond of a child and its mother as his whole argument. A small child orders its mother around and throws tantrums, yet her love only contains itself and keeps nurturing. He asks the saints, whom he calls his mother and father, to treat his offenses the same way. The point he lands is that real authority shows itself in patience: the mother has every power to strike back, but cruelty simply never arises in her, and he trusts the saints are like that.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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