Prayer, the child's claim on a parent
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मायबापापुढें लेंकराची आळी । आणीक हे पाळी कोण लळे ॥1॥
सांभाळा जी माझीं विषमें अनंता । जवळी असतां अव्हेर कां ॥ध्रु.॥
आणिकांची चाले सत्ता आह्मांवरी । तुमची ते थोरी काय मग ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आलों दुरोनि जवळी । आतां टाळाटाळी करूं नये ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A child's complaints belong before its parents; who else will indulge such tender whims? Protect me, O Ananta; why neglect me when You are right here? If others can exercise power over me, then where is Your greatness? Says Tuka, I have come from afar to draw near; now there should be no more evasion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A child's complaints belong before its mother and father. Who else will put up with such tender demands? Look after my troubles, O Ananta. You are right here, so why turn away? If others can hold power over me, then where is Your greatness? Tuka says: I have come from far off to stand near You. Now do not put me off again.
What it means
Tukaram presses his claim on God the way only a child presses it on a parent. A child takes its complaints nowhere else, because no one else will indulge them, and he insists God owes him that same patience. He sharpens it into a challenge: if other forces can still push him around while God stands right beside him, then what has become of God's greatness. Having traveled the long way from far off to near, he asks plainly that there be no more evasion, no more putting him off.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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