Plea for fearlessness, hasten
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विनति घातली अवधारीं । मज देई वो अभय करीं । पीडिलों खेचरीं । आणीक वारी नांवांची ॥१॥
रंगा येई वो एकला रंग वोडवला । हरिनाम उठिला गजर केला हाकारा ॥ध्रु.॥
देवांचे दैवते । तुज नमिलें आदिनाथे । ये वो कृपावंते । भोगा माझ्या धांवति ॥२॥
न लवीं आतां वेळ । आइत सारिली सकळ । तुका म्हणे कुळ । आमुचिये दैवते ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have laid my plea before you; grant me fearlessness with your own hand. Evil spirits and the cycles of rebirth have tormented me. Come, O single radiance; the great chant of Hari's name has begun and the call rings out. Even the gods of gods bow to you, O Adinath. Come, O compassionate one, hasten to my rescue. Says Tuka, delay no more; all is prepared. You are the presiding deity of our lineage.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have laid my plea before you; hear it. Give me fearlessness from your own hand. Evil spirits have tormented me, and so have the rounds of birth and death. Come, O single radiance; the colors are spread out. The chant of Hari's name has risen; the call has gone out. You are the deity of the gods themselves; even Adinath bowed to you. Come, O compassionate one, run to take away what I must suffer. Do not delay now; everything is made ready. Tuka says: you are the deity of our whole lineage.
What it means
Tukaram prays for one gift above all, abhaya, fearlessness placed directly in his hand by God. He names what frightens him: tormenting spirits and the repeated cycle of rebirth. The praise is deliberately high, that even the chief of the gods bows here, so the appeal carries weight, and the festival of the Name is already underway, the call already sent. He closes by claiming the bond of lineage: this is not a stranger he begs, but the family deity, so the delay he asks God to drop is the delay of one's own household.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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