Refuge of the helpless
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अनाथांची तुह्मां दया । पंढरीराया येतसे ॥1॥
ऐसी ऐकोनियां कीतिन । बहु विश्रांति पावलों ॥ध्रु.॥
अनाथांच्या धांवा घरा । नामें करा कुडावा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सवघड हित । ठेवूं चित्त पायांपें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You have compassion for the helpless, O Lord of Pandhari. Hearing this fame of Yours, I have found great peace. You rush to the homes of the destitute; surround them with Your Name as a protecting fence. Says Tuka, the easy path to true welfare is to fix the chitta at Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You have mercy on the helpless, O Lord of Pandhari; it rises in you on its own. Hearing this fame of yours, I have found great rest. You run to the homes of the destitute; make a fence around them with your Name. Tuka says: the welfare close at hand is this, to keep the mind at your feet.
What it means
Tukaram is leaning on Vithoba's reputation for compassion and resting his whole weight there. He says mercy for the abandoned simply arises in the Lord; it is the Lord's nature, not a favor to be bargained for. That fame alone has already given him peace, before any rescue. He asks the Lord to do what he is famous for, to run to the poor and surround them with the Name as a protecting wall, and he names the simplest practice within everyone's reach: not a feat, just keeping the mind fixed at God's feet.
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