Surrender, the servant's only wealth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हें चि माझे धन । तुमचे वंदावे चरण ॥1॥
येणें भाग्यें असों जीत । एवढें समर्पूनी चित्त ॥ध्रु.॥
सांभािळलें देवा । मज अनाथा जी जीवा ॥2॥
जोडूनियां कर । तुका विनवितो किंकर ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This alone is my wealth: to bow at Your feet. By this good fortune may I live, having offered my entire chitta. You have watched over this helpless jiva, O God. Says Tuka, with folded hands, this servant makes his supplication.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This alone is my wealth: to bow at Your feet. By this good fortune may I stay alive, having given You my whole mind. You have watched over me, O God, a helpless creature. Tuka says: with folded hands, this servant makes his plea.
What it means
Tukaram strips his life down to one possession and one request. He owns nothing he counts as wealth except the act of bowing at God's feet, and he asks only to go on living for the sake of that, having already handed over his entire mind. He calls himself helpless, an orphan creature, and credits God alone with having kept him safe. The poem ends as a servant's petition, made with folded hands, claiming no merit of his own.
Prayers
Direct appeals to God: for protection, guidance, strength, and mercy.
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