Surrender, the fathomless Lord
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चित्त तुझ्या पायीं । ठेवुनि जालों उतराई ॥1॥
परि तूं खोटा केशीराजा । अंतपार न कळे तुझा ॥ध्रु.॥
आह्मी सर्वस्वें उदार । तुज देऊनियां धीर ॥2॥
इंिद्रयांची होळी । संवसार दिला बळी ॥3॥
न पडे विसर । तुझा आह्मां निरंतर ॥4॥
प्रेम एकासाटी। तुका ह्मणे न वेचे गांठी ॥5॥
आह्मी पतित ह्मणोनि तुज आलों शरण । करितों चिंतन दिवस रात्रीं ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have placed my chitta at Your feet and become free of obligation. But You are the deceitful one, O Keshiraja; I cannot fathom Your limits. I have been generous with everything, giving You my courage and resolve. I have made a bonfire of the senses and offered worldly life as a sacrifice. My remembrance of You never lapses, not for a single moment. Says Tuka, my love is for You alone, and that is a treasure the purse never exhausts. Because I am fallen, I have come to You for refuge, meditating on You day and night.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have placed my heart at Your feet and become free of debt. But You are the tricky one, O Keshiraja; I cannot find Your far edge. I have given everything freely, handing You my courage and my resolve. I made a bonfire of the senses and offered worldly life as sacrifice. I never forget You, not for a single moment. Tuka says: my love is for You alone, and that treasure never empties from the purse. Because I am fallen, I have come to You for refuge; I think of You day and night.
What it means
Tukaram describes a total handover: heart at the feet, courage and resolve given away, the senses burned, worldly life offered up. Having given everything, he says he is now free of debt, his side of the account settled. Yet he calls God deceitful and unfathomable, because God Himself stays beyond reckoning even after the devotee has held nothing back. The one thing that never runs out is his love, a purse that pays endlessly without emptying. He ends where the fallen always end: at the feet, taking refuge, keeping God in mind through day and night.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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