मराठी मूळ
लागो तुझी सोय ऐसे कोणी करी । माझे विठाबाई जननिये ॥1॥
पतितपावन ह्मणविसी जरी । आवरण करीं तरी माझें ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं तरी ब्रीद टाकीं सोडूनियां । न धरिसी माया जरी माझी ॥2॥
बोलिला तो बोल करावा साचार । तरि लोक बरें ह्मणतील ॥3॥
करावा संसार लोक लाजे भेणें । वचनासी उणें येऊं नेदीं ॥4॥
तुह्मां आह्मां तैसें नाहीं ह्मणे तुका । होशील तूं सखा जीवलग ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Who will set me on the right path, my Vithabai, my divine mother? If You truly call Yourself the Purifier of the Fallen, then lift the veil from over me. Otherwise, cast aside Your vow, if You do not care for me. Let what You have spoken be made true, and then people will say it is good. One must keep up the household for the sake of honor. Do not let Your word fall short. Says Tuka, let it not be so between us. You will be my dearest companion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Someone, set me on the right path, my Vithabai, my mother. If you call yourself the one who purifies the fallen, then lift the veil from over me. If not, then drop the title; let it go, if you will not hold me as your own. The word you have spoken, make it come true; then people will say it is good. One keeps up a household for the sake of honor. Do not let your word fall short. Tuka says: let it not be like that between us. You will be my dearest companion.
What it means
Tukaram calls Vitthal his mother, then presses a sharp argument: a title carries an obligation. If God advertises himself as the purifier of the fallen, then saving Tukaram is not a favor but the keeping of a public vow. He even uses the worldly logic of reputation, that a person maintains his household so as not to lose face, to insist that God too must not let his word fall short. The whole poem is intimate pressure, not threat: he is binding God by God's own name. Behind the argument is the trust that the bond between them is real, so the demand can be made at all.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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