Prayer, the unqualified beggar's plea
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न संडवे अन्न । मज न सेववे वन ॥1॥
ह्मणउनी नारायणा । कींव भाकितों करुणा ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं अधिकार । कांहीं घोकाया अक्षर ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे थोडें । आयुष्य अवघें चि कोडें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I cannot give up food, and I cannot retire to the forest. Therefore, O Narayana, I plead for compassion. I have no qualification to chant even a single syllable of scripture. Says Tuka, life is short, and all of it is but play.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I cannot give up food. I cannot go off to the forest. So, Narayana, I beg you for compassion. I have no right to chant even a single syllable of scripture. Tuka says: life is short, and the whole of it is just a game.
What it means
Tukaram prays from open weakness instead of strength. He cannot fast away his hunger and cannot renounce the world for the forest, the usual paths of the austere; and he claims no scriptural qualification, not even the standing to recite one sacred syllable. Stripped of every credential, all he can do is beg Narayana for compassion. The bare plea is the whole prayer. He ends by setting it against the size of things: life is short and the whole of it is only a play, so leaning on God's mercy is the sane response, not the qualifications he lacks.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
More in this theme →