Prayer, the orphan asking to be claimed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अनाथ परदेशी हीन दीन भोळें । उगलें चि लोळे तुझे रंगीं ॥1॥
आपुलें ह्मणावें मज नुपेक्षावें । प्रेमसुख द्यावें मायबापा ॥ध्रु.॥
कासवीचे परि दृष्टी पाहें मज । विज्ञानीं उमज दावुनियां ॥2॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am an orphan, a stranger, low, poor, and simple. Without reason I roll about in the dust of Your company. Call me Your own and do not forsake me. Give me the joy of love, O mother and father. Like a tortoise that nourishes its young with a glance, look upon me with the light of understanding.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am an orphan, a stranger, low and poor and simple. For no reason I roll about in the dust of Your company. Call me Your own and do not pass me by. Give me the joy of love, mother and father. Like the tortoise that feeds its young with a glance, look upon me, showing me understanding in the light of knowing.
What it means
Tukaram names his own helplessness so completely that there is nothing left to offer but it. He is orphaned, foreign, low, simple, with no claim except that he keeps rolling in the dust where God is. His whole request is relationship, not reward: call me your own, do not overlook me, give me the joy of love. The closing image carries the prayer, the tortoise is said to nourish its young by looking at them, so he asks only for God's glance, which would itself feed him and open his understanding.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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