Prayer, the mother in the final hour
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जन्मा आलियाचा लाभ । पद्मनाभदरुषणें ॥1॥
पाठीलागा येतो काळ । तूं कृपाळु माउली ॥ध्रु.॥
कोण्या उपायें हें घडे । भव आंगडें सुटकेचें ॥2॥
बहु उसंतीत आलों । तया भ्यालों स्थळासी ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तूं जननी । ये निर्वाणी विठ्ठले ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The gain of this human birth lies in the vision of the Lord. Death pursues us from behind, and You are the compassionate mother. By what means can this deliverance from the body happen? I have grown so weary, and I fear that place of return. Says Tuka, You are the mother. Come now in this final hour, O Vitthal.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The gain of being born a human is the sight of the Lotus-navelled Lord. Death comes chasing at my back, and You are the merciful mother. By what means can this happen, this slipping free of the body's coat? I have grown so weary, and I am afraid of that place I must return to. Tuka says: You are my mother. Come now, in this last extremity, O Vitthal.
What it means
Tukaram is naming the single point of a human life and then crying for help to reach it. The whole gain of this birth, he says, is the vision of the Lord; everything else is beside the point. But death is chasing him from behind, so the matter is urgent, and he turns to God as a frightened child turns to its mother. He asks plainly how the release can be managed, the slipping free of the body like shedding a coat, and confesses he is worn out and afraid of the rebirth that waits if he fails. The poem ends as a deathbed plea: You are my mother, so come now, in this final hour, O Vitthal.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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