Prayer, the child running to the breast
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझे हातीं आहे करावें चिंतन । तुम्ही कृपादान प्रेम द्यावें ॥1॥
मागति यां भांडवल आळवण । नामाची जतन दातियासी॥ध्रु.॥
बाळक धांवोनि आड निघे स्तनीं ॥ घालावा जननी कृपे पान्हां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे करीं कासवाचे परी । आहे सूत्रदोरी तुझे हातीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It is in my hands to practice contemplation; You must grant me the gift of loving grace. My capital for this entreaty is the invocation of Your Name, held safe for the giver. Just as a child runs eagerly to the breast, the mother must let her milk flow with compassion. Says Tuka, I look to You as the tortoise watches over its young; the thread of control is in Your hands.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What is in my hands is to do remembrance; you must give the gift of grace, the gift of love. My only capital for this asking is the Name, kept safe for the one who gives. As a child runs and presses to the breast, the mother must let her milk flow in mercy. Tuka says: hold me as the tortoise holds its young; the thread of control is in your hands.
What it means
Tukaram divides the work of devotion between himself and God. His part is small: to keep remembering and calling. The grace, the love, the actual gift must come from God. His whole stock for the asking is the Name, held in trust for the giver. He pictures himself as a hungry child pressing to its mother, and asks God, like the mother, to let mercy flow. The closing image is of total dependence: as the tortoise is said to nourish its young by a thread of attention from afar, the controlling thread of his life is wholly in God's hands.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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