Blind and lame in a foreign land
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाय डोळे म्हणतां माझे । तींहीं कैसा मोकलिलों । परदेशीं नाहीं कोणी । अंध पांगुळ जालों ॥१॥
आतां माझी करीं चिंता । दान देई भगवंता । पाठीं पोटीं नाहीं कोणी । निरवीं सज्जन संता ॥ध्रु.॥
चालतां वाट पुढें । भय वाटतें चित्तीं । बहुत जन गेलीं नाहीं आलीं मागुतीं । न देखें काय जालें।
कान तरी ऐकती । बैसलों संधिभागीं । तुज धरूनि चित्तीं ॥२॥
भाकितों करुणा गा । जैसा सांडिला ठाव । न भरें पोट कधीं नाहीं निश्चळ पाव । हिंडतां भागलों गा ।
लक्ष चौर्यां शी गांव । धरूनि राहिलों गा । हा चि वसता ठाव ॥३॥
भरवसा काय आतां । कोण आणि अवचिता । तैसी च जाली कीर्ति । तया मज बहुतां ।
म्हणउनि मारीं हाका । सोयी पावें पुण्यवंता । लागली भूक थोरी । तूं चि कृपाळू दाता ॥४॥
संचित सांडवलें । कांहीं होतें जवळीं । वित्त गोत पुत माया । तुटली हे लागावळी ।
निष्काम जालों देवा । होतें माझे कपाळीं । तुका म्हणे तूं चि आतां । माझा सर्वस्वें बळी ॥५॥
देखत होतों आधीं । मागें पुढें सकळ । मग हे दृष्टी गेली । वरी आले पडळ ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My eyes and my feet have abandoned me, and I am left blind and lame in a foreign land with no one at my side. Now take care of me, O Lord; give me your gift. I have no one before or behind me; entrust me to the company of the good. Fear grips my heart on the road ahead, for many have gone that way and never returned. I sit at the crossroads, holding only you in my mind. I cry for mercy; my belly is never filled, and there is no steady ground beneath my feet. I have wandered through eighty-four hundred thousand births and settled at last in this one place. Says Tuka, you alone are now my everything; all possessions, kin, and attachments have fallen away, and I am left desireless.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My feet and eyes were called mine, yet all three have abandoned me. In this foreign land there is no one; I have gone blind and lame. Now think of me, give me your gift, O God. There is no one behind me or before me; entrust me to the good and to the saints. Walking the road ahead, fear fills my heart. Many people have gone that way and not come back. I cannot see what became of them. My ears at least still hear; I sit at the crossing, holding only you in mind. I cry for mercy, like one left at a forsaken place. My belly is never full; my feet never find firm ground. Wandering, I am worn out. Through eighty-four hundred thousand births I went, and stopped at last here. This alone is the place to live. What trust can I place now? Who would come for me by chance? The same fame spread of me, that I am one of the many lost. So I call out: come to me, you holy ones; a great hunger has caught me, and you alone are the merciful giver. My store of merit is spent, whatever little I had near me. Wealth, kin, son, attachment, the whole tangle has snapped. I have become free of desire, O God; this was written on my brow. Tuka says: you alone now are my all, my whole strength. Before this I could see, everything behind and before. Then my sight went, and a film came over the eyes.
What it means
Again Tukaram speaks as a blind and crippled man stranded far from home, with no kin before or behind him, to picture the soul that has lost every worldly support. The road ahead is frightening because all who went before vanished and never returned, the plain image of death; he can only sit at the crossroads with God held in his mind and his ears still open. The vast number, eighty-four hundred thousand births, is the traditional count of the wandering of birth and rebirth, and he says he has stopped at last in this one true place. The reversal is grace: with his merit spent and every tie of wealth, family, and attachment snapped, he is left desireless, and that very emptiness lets him say God alone is now his everything.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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