Prayer, jest withdrawn before the Lord
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुज केलिया नव्हे ऐसें काई । डोंगराची राई क्षणमात्रें॥1॥
मज या लोकांचा न साहे आघात । देखणें प्रचित जीव घेती ॥ध्रु.॥
सहज विनोदें बोलियेलों गोष्टी । अरंभी तों पोटीं न धरावी ॥2॥
दीनरूप मज करावें नेणता । याहुनी अनंता आहें तैसा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जेणें मज तूं भोगसी । तें करीं जनासीं चाड नाहीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Is there anything that is impossible for You? You could reduce a mountain to mustard in an instant. I cannot endure the assaults of these people; their very gaze takes my life. I spoke these words in simple jest; do not hold them against me. Regard me as lowly, as ignorant, even more so than I already am. Says Tuka, do whatever pleases You with me. I have no need for what the world thinks.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Is there anything You cannot do? You could turn a mountain to mustard in an instant. I cannot bear the blows of these people. Their very gaze takes my life. I spoke those words in simple jest. Do not hold them against me from the start. Make me lowly, make me unknowing, even more than I already am. Tuka says: do with me whatever pleases You. I have no need of what the world thinks.
What it means
Tukaram begins by confessing God's limitless power, that the One who could shrink a mountain to a mustard seed can surely do anything, and then admits his own small wound: he cannot endure the hostility of people, whose mere looks drain the life from him. The poem reads as a half-apology for words spoken too freely; he asks God not to take his jesting to heart. Then comes the turn that resolves the hurt: instead of asking to be raised above his accusers, he asks to be made even lowlier and more ignorant than he is. He surrenders the whole matter to God's pleasure and lets go of the world's opinion altogether, which is exactly what frees him from the gazes that were killing him.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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