Bold love, seizing His garment
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां धरितों पदरीं । तुज मज करीन सरी ॥1॥
जालों जीवासी उदार । उभा ठाकलों समोर ॥2॥
तुका विनवीतसे संतां । ऐसें सांगा पंढरिनाथा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now I seize hold of Your garment and shall make You equal to me. I have become generous with my very life and stand right before You. Says Tuka, appealing to the saints: please tell the Lord of Pandhari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now I take hold of the hem of Your garment, and I will make You equal with me. I have grown generous with my own life; I stand right here, facing You. Tuka says, appealing to the saints: please tell this to the Lord of Pandhari.
What it means
Tukaram makes a daring, almost playful claim of intimacy. He grips God's garment like a child who will not be shaken off and announces he will make God his equal, the closeness of love rather than the distance of worship. He says he has become reckless, generous even with his own life, and so he plants himself directly before God with nothing held back. Then, in the signature line, he turns to the saints as go-betweens and asks them to carry his bold case to the Lord of Pandhari, trusting their word to reach where his own boldness aims.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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