Grant me sight, physician of Pandhari
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तिमिर कोंदलेंसें । वाढे वाढतां प्रबळ । भीत मी जालों देवा । काय ज्याल्याचें फळ ॥१॥
आतां मज दृष्टी देई । पांडुरंगा मायबापा । शरण आलों आतां । निवारूनियां पापा ।
अंजन लेववुनी । करीं मारग सोपा । जाईन सिद्धिपंथें । अवघ्या चुकती खेपा ॥ध्रु.॥
होतसे खेद चित्ता । कांहीं नाठवे विचार । जात होतों जना । मागें तोही सांडिला आधार ।
हा ना तोसा ठाव जाला । अवघा पडिला अंधार । फिरलीं माझीं मज । कोणी न देती आधार ॥२॥
जोंवरि चळण गा । तोंवरि म्हणती माझा । मानिती लहान थोर देहसुखाच्या काजा । इंद्रियें मावळलीं ।
आला बागुल आजा । कैसा विपरीत जाला । तो चि देह नव्हे दुजा ॥३॥
गुंतलों या संसारें । कैसा झालोंसें अंध । मी माझें वाढवुनी । मायातृष्णेचा बाध।
स्वहित न दिसेचि । केला आपुला वध । लागले काळ पाठीं । सवें काम हे क्रोध ॥४॥
लागती चालतां गा । गुणदोषाच्या ठेंसा । सांडिली वाट मग । जालों निराळा कैसा ।
पाहातों वास तुझी । थोरी करूनी आशा । तुका म्हणे वैद्यराजा । पंढरीच्या निवासा ॥५॥
सहज मी आंधळा गा निजनिराकार पंथें । वृत्ति हे निवृत्ति जाली जन न दिसे तेथें ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Darkness has choked everything and grown overwhelming. I am frightened, O God; what is the fruit of this life? Now grant me sight, O Panduranga, my mother and father. I have come to your refuge; remove my sins, apply the healing balm to my eyes, and make the path easy so I may travel the way of perfection with no more wandering. Great anguish fills my mind and no remedy comes to thought. I was going toward the world, but even that support I abandoned. Everything has become darkness; my own people have turned away and no one offers a hand. So long as the body had strength, they called me theirs; now that the senses have dimmed, even the same body is treated as a stranger. I was tangled in this world and became blind, nurturing 'me' and 'mine' until the craving of illusion destroyed my own welfare. Death pursues me with lust and anger at its side. Says Tuka, O physician-king dwelling in Pandhari, I stumble and look for your scent with great hope.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Darkness has closed in and grows stronger as it spreads. I have become afraid, O God. What is the fruit of being alive? Now give me sight, Panduranga, my mother and father. I have come to your refuge; clear away my sins. Line my eyes with the healing salve; make the road easy. I will go by the path of perfection, and all the wasted journeys will end. Grief fills my mind, and no remedy comes to thought. I was going out toward the world, but I left even that support behind. Neither this place nor that is mine; everything has fallen into darkness. My own people have turned away; no one offers a hand. As long as the body could move, they called me theirs. They counted me, high and low, for the body's comforts. Now the senses have failed; the old terror has come. How strangely it has turned; yet this is the same body, no other. I was tangled in this world, and see how blind I became, swelling 'me' and 'mine' under the hurt of illusion's craving. My own good never showed itself; I worked my own killing. Death is at my back, with lust and anger beside it. As I walk I keep striking against the stones of virtue and fault. Then I left the road; see how I became cut off and apart. I watch for your scent, raising a great hope. Tuka says: O physician-king, who dwells in Pandhari. I am blind by nature, on the path of the formless Self; outgoing thought has turned to stillness, where no people are seen.
What it means
Tukaram cries out from a thickening darkness, afraid and unable to see any fruit in his life, and asks Panduranga, named as both mother and father, to give him sight. The blindness is inner: he describes how the swelling of 'me' and 'mine' under illusion's craving blinded him to his own good, so that he was, in effect, killing himself while death waited with lust and anger at its side. The crowd that once called him theirs deserts him the moment the body weakens, which lays bare how little worldly belonging is worth. So he turns to the one healer: the physician-king of Pandhari, asking for the salve that opens the eyes and the easy road of perfection, until outgoing thought settles into the stillness of the formless Self.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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