Prayer, the honor of the one held
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हातीं धरिलियाची लाज । देवा असोंदे गा तुज॥1॥
आहें अमंगळ दुर्बळ । होई दीन तूं दयाळ ॥ध्रु.॥
बाळ सेंबडें मातेसि । काय नावडे तियेसि ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाणें । करोनि देहाचें सांडणें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Honor the one You have taken by the hand, O God; let that dignity remain with You. I am inauspicious and weak; I am lowly, and You are merciful. Does a mother not love her child even when it is dirty and covered with snot? Says Tuka, I know I must let go of this body in the end.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The honor of the one You have taken by the hand is Yours, O God; let it rest with You. I am unholy and weak; I am lowly, and You are merciful. Does a mother turn away from her own child because it is dirty and runny-nosed? Tuka says: I know this, that in the end I must lay down this body and go.
What it means
Tukaram is handing God the responsibility for his own worth. Once God has taken him by the hand, his reputation is no longer his to defend; it has become God's honor to keep. He freely admits he is unclean and weak, and sets that against God's mercy. The mother and the snot-nosed child is the whole argument: love does not wait for the child to be clean, so his filth is no reason for God to let go. And he knows the stakes are final, since the body itself will soon be set down; the hand that holds him must be the one that does not.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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