Refuge from the world, a cry to the Mother
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां मी न पडें सायासीं । संसारदुःखाचिये पाशीं । शरण रिघेन संतांसी । ठाव पायांपाशीं मागेन त्यां ॥1॥
न कळे संचित होतें काय । कोण्या पुण्यें तुझे लाधती पाय । आतां मज न विसंबें माय । मोकलूनि धाय विनवीतसें ॥2॥
बहुत जाचलों संसारें । मोहमायाजाळाच्या विखारें । त्रिगुण येतील लहरें । तेणें दुःखें थोरें आक्रंदलों ॥3॥
आणीक दुःखें सांगों मी किती । सकळ संसारिस्थती । न साहे पाषाण फुटती । भय चित्तीं कांप भरलासे ॥4॥
आतां मज न साहवे सर्वथा । संसारगंधीची हे वार्ता । जालों वेडा असोनि जाणता । पावें अनंता तुका ह्मणे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now I will not fall again into the traps of worldly sorrow. I will take refuge with the saints and beg for a place at their feet. I do not know what accumulated merit I had, or by what virtue one attains Your feet. Do not abandon me now, O Mother; I cry out, releasing all restraint. I have been greatly tormented by worldly life, by the poisonous snares of attachment and illusion. The waves of the three qualities come crashing, and under that great suffering I have wept aloud. How many more sorrows shall I recount? The whole condition of worldly existence is unbearable; even stones would split. Fear fills my heart and trembling has overtaken me. Now I can endure no more, not even the faintest whiff of worldly life. Though I have knowledge, I have gone mad. Says Tuka, come to me, O Infinite One.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now I will not fall again into the traps of worldly sorrow. I will take refuge with the saints and beg for a place at their feet. I do not know what merit I had stored up, or by what good deed one reaches your feet. Do not let go of me now, Mother; I cry out and hold nothing back. The world has worn me down with the poison of attachment and illusion. The waves of the three qualities come crashing in, and under that great pain I have wept aloud. How many more sorrows shall I count? The whole state of worldly life cannot be borne; even stones would crack. Fear fills my heart and trembling has taken hold of me. Now I cannot stand it at all, not even the faintest smell of worldly life. I have gone mad, though I still know. Tuka says: come to me, O Infinite One.
What it means
This is the moment of breaking, where Tukaram swears off the world for good and runs to refuge. He does not claim he earned this turn; he confesses he has no idea what merit brought him near God's feet. The suffering he names is not bad luck but the structure of worldly life itself: attachment, illusion, and the three qualities of nature breaking over him in waves. He describes a fear so total that even stone would split, and a strange double state, mad with grief yet still clear-eyed enough to know where to run. The poem ends as a child's cry to the Mother and to the Infinite: come now.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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