Prayer, the Name dissolves all difference
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ठाव देऊनिया राखें पायापासीं । मी तों आहें रासी पातकाची ॥1॥
पातकाची रासी ह्मणतां लागे वेळ । ऐके तो कृपाळ नारायण ॥ध्रु.॥
नारायणनामें अवघें सांग जालें । असंग चि केलें एकमय ॥2॥
एकमय जालें विठोबाच्या नामें । भेदाभेद कर्म आणिक कांहीं ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे चित्तीं चिंतिलें जें होतें । तें होय आपैतें नामें याच्या ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Grant me a place and keep me near Your feet, though I am a heap of sin. To call me a heap of sin takes time to explain, but the compassionate Narayana listens. Through Narayana's name, everything was made whole, all separateness dissolved into oneness. Everything has become one through Vithoba's name; distinctions of difference and karma have vanished. Says Tuka, whatever was wished for in the chitta comes to pass of its own accord through this Name.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Give me a place and keep me near your feet, though I am a heap of sin. To count out my sins would take a long time, but the compassionate Narayana listens. Through Narayana's name everything was made whole. The separate was made into one thing. It became one through Vithoba's name. Difference and sameness, karma, and all the rest: gone. Tuka says: whatever the heart wished for comes to pass of its own accord through this Name.
What it means
Tukaram asks for a place at God's feet while openly admitting he is nothing but a pile of sin, and rests his whole case on God's mercy rather than his record. The hinge is that his sins are too many to recount, yet the compassionate Narayana hears him anyway, so listening, not deserving, is what saves. He then claims the Name's power directly: it makes the broken whole and collapses every division, including the distinctions of difference, sameness, and karma that the mind lives by. The last line states the reward plainly: through the Name, the heart's true desire is fulfilled by itself, without his contriving it.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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