Prayer, the child's claim on the mother
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुझा ह्मणोनियां दिसतों गा दीन । हा चि अभिमान सरे तुझा ॥1॥
अज्ञान बाळका कोपली जननी । तयासी निर्वाणीं कोण पावे ॥ध्रु.॥
तैसा विठो तुजविण परदेशी । नको या दुःखासीं गोऊं मज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मज सर्व तुझी आशा । अगा जगदीशा पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Because I call myself Yours, I appear lowly, O God. This itself upholds Your honor. When a mother is angry with her ignorant child, who comes to its rescue in the end? Says Tuka, O Vitthal, without You I am an exile. Do not consign me to this sorrow. All my hope rests in You alone, O Jagadisha, O Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Because I call myself Yours, I look lowly, O God. And this very thing keeps Your honor. When a mother grows angry with her foolish little child, who else comes to its rescue in the end? In the same way, Vithoba, without You I am an exile. Do not leave me to this sorrow. Tuka says: all my hope rests in You alone, O Jagadisha, O Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram turns his own lowliness into a claim on God. If he looks wretched, it is because he belongs to God, so his condition is now God's reputation to defend. He reaches for the homeliest proof: even when a mother is furious at her child, no one but she will finally take it back, so God cannot finally abandon what is His. Naming himself an exile without Vitthal, he asks not to be left in sorrow and rests his whole hope on Panduranga, who has no other rescuer to defer to.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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