Prayer, the child who cannot bear harshness
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आिळकरा कोठें साहातें कठिण । आपुला तें प्राण देऊं पाहे ॥1॥
सांभाळावें मायबापें कृपादृष्टी । पीडितां तो दृष्टी देखों नये ॥ध्रु.॥
अंतरलों मागें संवसारा हातीं । पायांपें सरतीं जालों नाहीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मी विचारा जी देवा । ठेवाल तें ठेवा कोणे परी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How can a beloved child bear harshness? It would sooner give up its very life. O mother and father, watch over me with eyes of grace. I should not have to see suffering before my eyes. I fell behind, caught in the hands of worldly life, and could not reach Your feet. Says Tuka, think it over, O God. However You choose to keep me, so shall it be.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How can a loved child bear harsh treatment? It would sooner give up its life. Mother, father, watch over me with eyes of grace. Do not make me look on suffering. I fell behind, caught in the hands of worldly life, and never reached Your feet. Tuka says: think it over, God. However You decide to keep me, so let it be.
What it means
Tukaram pleads as a child before parents, saying a beloved child cannot endure harshness and would rather die than face it. He asks God, addressed as mother and father, to look on him with grace and spare him the sight of suffering. He confesses honestly why he is in trouble: he lagged behind, gripped by worldly life, and never made it to God's feet. Yet the prayer ends in surrender, not demand, he asks God to weigh the matter and then leaves the verdict entirely to Him, accepting whatever keeping God chooses.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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