Prayer, the confession of an empty show
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
म्हणवितों दास । मज एवढी च आस ॥१॥
परी ते अंगीं नाहीं वर्म । करीं आपुला तूं धर्म ॥ध्रु.॥
बडबडितों तोंडें । रितें भावेंविण धेंडें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बरा । दावूं जाणतों पसारा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I wish to be called your servant; that is my only desire. But I lack the true quality within me, so please fulfill your own nature, O Lord. My mouth babbles on, but without genuine feeling it is an empty stump. Says Tuka, I am good at putting on a show, nothing more.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I want to be called your servant; that is my only wish. But the real thing is not in me, so do your own work, Lord, and make me yours. My mouth babbles on, an empty stump with no true feeling behind it. Tuka says: I am good at putting on a show, nothing more.
What it means
Tukaram prays for one thing, to be counted God's servant, and in the same breath admits he has not earned the name. He confesses that the inner quality is missing: his worship is talk without feeling, a hollow stump making noise. Rather than hide this, he hands the work back to God, asking the Lord to supply by grace what he cannot supply himself. The honesty is the prayer: he turns his own emptiness and his skill at mere display into a reason for God to act.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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