Prayer, the parent must spare the child
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
परि आतां माझी परिसावी विनंती । रखुमाईच्या पती पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
चुकलिया बाळा न मारावें जीवें । हित तें करावें मायबापीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुझा ह्मणताती मज । आतां आहे लाज हे चि तुह्मां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
But now, hear my humble plea, O Lord of Rakhumai, O Panduranga. Do not strike a wayward child to death; it is the duty of parents to do what is best. Says Tuka, they call me Yours. Now the honor to uphold is Yours.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
But now hear my plea, Lord of Rakhumai, Panduranga. Do not put a straying child to death. Parents must do what is good for it. Tuka says: they call me Yours. Now the honor of that is Yours to keep.
What it means
Tukaram pleads as an erring child before a parent who has the power to punish. He does not deny that he has gone astray; he asks instead that God act the way good parents act, correcting the child for its welfare rather than destroying it. Then he turns the claim around: since the world calls him God's own, his failures now reflect on God, and the honor at stake belongs to the Lord. It is the bold logic of the bhakta, binding God to him by love and by reputation, so that to abandon the devotee would be to lose face.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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