Prayer, settle me at your feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मागील विसर होईल सकळ । केली तळमळ दुःखाची ते ॥1॥
दोहींचें अहिक्य घालीं गडसंदीं । िस्थरावेल बुिद्ध पायांपाशीं॥ध्रु.॥
अहाच या केलों देहपरिचारें । तुमचें तें खरें वाटों नये ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे व्हावें लवकरी उदार । मी आहें सादर प्रतिग्रहासी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let all the past sorrows and turmoil be forgotten. Merge both sides together and let the mind settle at Your feet. Until now I was engaged in serving the body as though that were the truth; do not accept that as genuine. Says Tuka, be generous quickly; I stand ready to receive.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let all the past be forgotten, all the burning sorrow it caused. Join the two of us together and let the mind settle still at your feet. Until now I served the body as if that were the truth; do not count that as real. Tuka says: be generous quickly. I am standing ready to receive.
What it means
Tukaram asks God to wipe away the past with all the anguish it stirred up, so that nothing old keeps coming back. What he wants instead is union, the two sides merged, with his restless mind finally fixed and steady at God's feet. He disowns his former life, in which he tended the body as though it were the real thing, and begs that this not be held against him as genuine. The poem ends as open-handed petition: God should be generous at once, because Tukaram is already standing there with his hands out, ready to receive.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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