Surrender, the child with no worry
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तारीं मारीं करीं भलतें दातारा । होऊन तुझा आतां ठेलों रे ॥1॥
असो माझें कोडें तुज हे सांकडें । मी असेन निवाडें सुखरूप ।
बाळकासी चिंता काय पोटवेथा । जया शिरीं मायबाप ॥ध्रु.॥
पापपुण्यें श्रुति आटिल्या। शास्त्रांस न लगे चि ठाव ।
विधिनिषिधें गोविलीं पुराणें वेदांसी तो अहंभाव ।
ओंकाराचें मूळ व्यापिलें माया । तेथें न धरे च भाव ।
ह्मणऊन काबाड सांडिलें उपसतां । धरिलें तुझें चि नांव ॥2॥
तनमनइंिद्रयें ठेवूनि राहिलों । सर्व आशा तुझे पायीं । तप तीर्थ दान करवूं कवणा ।
हातीं अधीन तें मज काई । आहिक्यें परत्रें चाड नाहीं सर्वथा । जन्म सदा मज देहीं ।
मायामोहपाश करीं विष तैसें । तुका ह्मणे माझ्याठायीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Save me, strike me, do whatever You will, O generous Lord; I have become Yours now. Let my wishes be Your concern; I shall remain at ease. Does a child worry about the pangs of hunger when it has a mother and father to care for it? Scripture is exhausted sorting sin and merit; the sacred texts find no foothold. Rules and prohibitions have entangled the Puranas, and even the Vedas carry the taint of ego. Maya has pervaded the very root of Om, and no conviction can hold there. Therefore I have dropped the struggle of hauling water from that well and have simply taken hold of Your name. I have placed my body, mind, and senses at Your feet, with all my hopes resting there. I have no capacity for austerity, pilgrimage, or charity; nothing is in my own hands. I care nothing for this world or the next; let me be born again and again in this body. Says Tuka, make the bonds of illusion and attachment into poison at my doorstep, so I never touch them again.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Save me, strike me, do whatever You will, O generous Lord; I have become Yours now. Let my wishes be Your concern; I will stay at ease. Does a child fret over the pangs of hunger when it has a mother and father over it? Scripture wore itself out sorting sin and merit; the sacred texts find no footing. Rules and bans have tangled up the Puranas, and even the Vedas carry the taint of ego. Maya has spread into the very root of Om, and no conviction can hold there. So I have dropped the labor of hauling water from that well and simply taken hold of Your name. I have laid my body, mind, and senses at Your feet, with all my hope resting there. I have no power for austerity, pilgrimage, or charity; nothing is in my own hands. I care nothing for this world or the next; let me be born again and again in this body. Tuka says: turn the bonds of illusion and attachment into poison for me, so I never touch them again.
What it means
Tukaram hands God the right to do anything to him, rescue or strike, and then explains why he can rest under that: a child with parents over it does not lie awake worried about its own hunger. The radical middle of the poem is his verdict on the texts. He does not deny their authority lightly; he says they exhaust themselves sorting sin and merit, that rules and prohibitions have snarled the Puranas, that even Veda and the root sound Om are reached by Maya and ego. Having found no firm footing there, he stops hauling water from a dry well and grips the one thing he trusts, the Name. The surrender is complete and even fierce: with no power for austerity or pilgrimage of his own, he asks not for heaven but to be reborn here in service, and begs that illusion and attachment be made poison to him so he can never be tempted back.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
More in this theme →