Prayer, the shame of begging elsewhere
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुझें दास्य करूं आणिका मागों खावया । धिग् जालें जिणें माझें पंढरीराया ॥१॥
काय गा विठोबा तुज म्हणावें । थोराच्या दैवें गोड शुभअशुभ ॥ध्रु.॥
संसाराचा धाक निरंतर आम्हांसी । मरण भलें परि काय अवकळा तैसी ॥२॥
तुझे शरणागत शरण जाऊं आणिकांसी । तुका म्हणे कवणा लाज हें कां नेणसी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Shall I serve you and then beg from others for my food? Cursed is such a life, O Lord of Pandhari. What shall I say to you, Vithoba? By the fortune of the great, both good and ill become sweet. The dread of worldly existence haunts us ceaselessly; death would be welcome, but even that comes with its own disgrace. Says Tuka, if those who have surrendered to you must go begging at another's door, whose shame is that? Why do you not understand?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Shall I serve you, and then beg my food from others? Shame on such a life of mine, Lord of Pandhari. What is there to say to you, Vithoba? When fortune is great, both good and ill taste sweet. The fear of this worldly life never leaves us. Death would be better, but must it come in such disgrace? Those who have taken refuge in you, must they take refuge with others too? Tuka says: whose is the shame in that? Why do you not understand this?
What it means
Tukaram makes a blunt complaint to Vitthal that doubles as an appeal. If he is the Lord's servant, it is a disgrace that he should still have to beg his living from other people; that life feels cursed to him. The constant dread of worldly existence wears on him so that even death seems welcome, except that it too would come with humiliation. The pointed argument is that one who has surrendered to God should not have to seek refuge anywhere else, and if such a devotee is reduced to begging at strangers' doors, the shame falls on the Lord, not the devotee. He presses God to feel the dishonor of letting His own surrendered ones go unprovided for.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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