Surrender, no one else to turn to
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
यासाटीं करितों निष्ठ भाषण । आहेसी तूं जाण सर्वदाता ॥1॥
ऐसें दुःख कोण आहे निवारिता । तें मी जाऊं आतां शरण त्यासी ॥ध्रु.॥
बैसलासे केणें करुनि एक घरीं । नाहीं येथें उरी दुसयाची ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आलें अवघें पायांपें । आतां मायबापें नुपेक्षावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It is for this reason that I speak to You with urgency: You are the giver of all, I know. What other remover of sorrow is there that I should go and surrender to instead? You have taken up sole residence in my home; no room remains for anyone else. Says Tuka, everything has come to Your feet. Now, O Mother and Father, do not neglect me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This is why I speak to you so urgently: I know you are the giver of all. Who else can take away such sorrow, that I should go and surrender to him instead? You have come and settled alone in my house. There is no room left here for anyone else. Tuka says: everything has come to your feet. Now, mother and father, do not turn away from me.
What it means
Tukaram explains why his speech to God is so insistent: there is simply no second address for his sorrow. He knows God is the one giver of all, so going elsewhere would be pointless; no other power can lift the grief he carries. He pictures God as having taken sole residence in his house, leaving no room for any rival refuge. Having laid everything at the feet of the one he calls mother and father, he asks the only thing left to ask, that God not neglect what has been wholly handed over.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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