Prayer, the mind dragging toward ruin
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
प्राथिनतां ही राहेना । आदरें पतना नेऊं पाहे ॥1॥
आतां धांवधावें गा श्रीहरी । गेलों वांयां नाहीं तरी ।
न दिसे कोणी आवरी। आणीक दुजा तयासी ॥ध्रु.॥
न राहे एके ठायीं एकी घडी। चित्त तडतडा तोडी ।
घालूं पाहे बा हे उडी या भवडोहीं ॥2॥
आशा तृष्णा कल्पना पापिणी । घात मांडला माझा यांणीं ।
तुका ह्मणे चक्रपाणी । काय अजोनि पाहातोसी॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even when I plead with this mind, it will not stay; it eagerly drags me toward ruin. O Shrihari, rush to my aid now. If You do not, I am lost. I see no one else who can restrain it. It will not rest in one place for a single moment; it tears away from me. It seeks to leap into the deep well of worldly existence. Desire, craving, and sinful imagination have conspired to destroy me. Says Tuka, O Lord who holds the discus, what are You still waiting to see?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even when I plead with it, this mind will not stay. Eagerly it tries to carry me down to ruin. Now run, run to me, O Shrihari, or else I am lost for nothing. I see no one else who can hold it back. It will not stay in one place for even a moment. It tears my heart this way and that. It wants to leap into this deep well of worldly life. Desire, craving, and sinful imagination, these sinners, have set out to destroy me. Tuka says: O Lord who holds the discus, what are you still waiting to see?
What it means
This is a cry for rescue from a mind the speaker cannot govern. Tukaram describes the mind as a force that will not stay still and actively hauls him toward his own destruction, leaping for the deep well of worldly existence. He names the conspirators by name: hope, craving, and sinful imagination have ganged up to finish him off, and he confesses he has no power of his own to restrain them. So the only move left is to call on Shrihari to come running. The closing question is almost a reproach, urging the Lord who carries the discus to stop watching and act before it is too late.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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