Prayer, free me from karma
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धर्माची तूं मूर्ती । पाप पुण्य तुझे हातीं ॥१॥
मज सोडवीं दातारा । कर्मापासूनि दुस्तरा ॥ध्रु.॥
करिसी अंगीकार । तरी काय माझा भार ॥२॥
जिवींच्या जीवना । तुका म्हणे नारायणा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You are the very form of dharma. Sin and merit rest in Your hands. Free me, O Giver, from karma so hard to cross. If You accept me as Your own, what burden remains mine? Tuka says: O Narayana, life of the life within.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You are dharma itself, made visible. Sin and merit both rest in your hands. Set me free, O giver, from karma that is so hard to cross. If you take me as your own, then what burden is left for me to carry? Tuka says: Narayana, you are the life within my life.
What it means
A prayer of handing over. Tukaram places the whole weight of right and wrong, sin and merit, in God's hands rather than his own, and asks to be freed from karma, the chain of consequence too hard for a person to cross alone. The pivot is the third line: if God accepts him, the burden is no longer his to carry. This is the logic of surrender. What you cannot lift yourself, you give to the one who can. The last words name how close that one is: the very life inside his life.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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