Plea of the fallen, shelter taken
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विनवितों चतुरा तुज विश्वंभरा । परियेसी दातारा पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
तुझे दास ऐसें जगीं वाखाणिलें । आतां नव्हे भलें मोकलितां ॥ध्रु.॥
माझे गुणदोष कोण जाणे मात । पावनपतित नाम तुझें ॥2॥
लोभ मोह माया आह्मां बांधवितां । तरि हा अनंता बोल कोणा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे मी तों पतित चि खरा । परि आलों दातारा शरण तुज ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I pray to You, O wise Vishvambhara. Hear me, O generous Panduranga. The world has proclaimed me as Your servant. It would not look good for You to abandon me now. Who knows the account of my merits and faults? Your name is the Purifier of the Fallen. If greed, desire, and illusion continue to bind me, then the blame, O Ananta, falls on You. Says Tuka, I am truly a fallen one, but I have come to Your shelter, O generous Lord.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I pray to you, wise Vishvambhara. Hear me, generous Panduranga. The world has called me your servant. It would not look good now to let me go. Who can reckon up my merits and faults? Your name is the Purifier of the Fallen. If greed and desire and Maya keep binding me, then, Ananta, whose fault is that? Tuka says: I am a fallen one, truly. But I have come to your shelter, generous Lord.
What it means
Tukaram comes empty-handed and turns his own emptiness into a claim on God. He leans on God's reputation: the world already names him a servant, so abandoning him now would shame the master, not the servant. He refuses to itemize his sins, because Vitthal's own name, Purifier of the Fallen, makes the sins beside the point. Then comes the bold turn: if greed and illusion still bind him, the blame rests on the Lord who has not yet cut them. He ends not by defending himself but by simply standing at the shelter, fallen and unashamed of it.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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