Prayer, holding God to his vow
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दोष करूनि आह्मी पतित सिद्ध जालों । पावन मागों आलों ब्रीद तुझें ॥1॥
आतां पतिता तारावें कीं ब्रीद हें सोडावें । यांत जें पुरवे तें चि सांगा ॥ध्रु.॥
उद्धार तुमच्यानें नव्हे हो श्रीहरि। सोडा झडकरी ब्रीद आतां ॥2॥
तें ब्रीद घेउनी हिंडों दारोदारीं । सांगूं तुझी कीर्ती रे पांडुरंगा ॥3॥
देवें हारविलें ब्रीद हें सोडिलें । पतितें जिंकिलें आह्मीं देवा ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मीं उठलों दैन्यवरि। विचारा श्रीहरी तुह्मी आतां ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
By committing sins, we have firmly established ourselves as the fallen. We have come to seek purification, relying on Your vow, O Lord. Now choose: either uplift the fallen, or give up Your vow. Tell us which one suits You better. If You cannot deliver us, O Shrihari, then abandon Your vow at once. We will take that broken vow and carry it door to door, proclaiming Your fame, O Panduranga. God has lost; He gave up His vow. The wrongdoers have won; we have defeated God. Says Tuka, we have risen up against our lowliness. Now consider Your next move, O Shrihari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
By our sins we have made ourselves the fallen, proven and complete. We have come to ask for the purifying that Your vow promises. Now choose: either save the fallen, or give up Your vow. Tell us plainly which one suits You. If You cannot lift us up, Shrihari, then drop Your vow at once. We will take that broken vow and go door to door with it, telling everyone Your fame, Panduranga. God has lost; He has given up His vow. The wrongdoers have won; we have defeated God. Tuka says: we have risen up out of our wretchedness. Now think it over, Shrihari.
What it means
Tukaram turns God's own reputation into a claim he can press. The Lord is famed as the one who lifts the fallen, so Tukaram presents himself as exactly that, fully fallen, and demands that the vow be honored. The boldness is deliberate: either God saves him or God breaks his word, and a God who breaks his word loses his glory before the world. The line about defeating God is not arrogance but the lover's gambit; he stakes everything on the Lord caring more about his promise than about Tukaram's worthiness. It is prayer as a loving challenge, leaning the whole weight of one's hopelessness on God's faithfulness.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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