Surrender, nowhere else to go
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आली सलगी पायांपाशीं । होइल तैसी करीन ॥1॥
आणीक आह्मीं कोठें जावें । येथें जीवें वेचलों ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघ्या निरोपणा भाव । हा चि ठाव उरलासे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पाळीं लळे। कृपाळुवे विठ्ठले ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Having found intimacy at Your feet, I will act however You will it. Where else should I go? I have poured out my life here. After letting go of everything, only this refuge remains. Says Tuka, nurture my childlike ways, O merciful Vitthala.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have come close to Your feet now; I will do whatever You want. Where else would I go? I have spent my whole life here. Once I have let go of everything, this is the only refuge left. Tuka says: indulge my childish ways, merciful Vitthal.
What it means
Tukaram describes surrender as the end of options, not a grand gesture. Having come near Vitthal's feet, he hands over his own will: he will do whatever God wants. The blunt question, where else would I go, names the truth that he has poured his entire life into this one place and has nothing held back. With everything else released, only this refuge remains, and he asks the merciful Vitthal to put up with his childlike demands like a parent with a small child.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
More in this theme →