Confession, the runaway mind
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अधिक कोंडितां चरफडी । भलतीकडे घाली उडी॥1॥
काय करूं या मना आतां । का विसरातें पंढरिनाथा ।
करी संसाराची चिंता । वेळोवेळां मागुती ॥ध्रु.॥
भजन नावडे श्रवण । धांवे विषय अवलोकून ॥2॥
बहुत चंचळ चपळ । जातां येतां न लगे वेळ॥3॥
किती राखों दोनी काळ । निजलिया जागे वेळे ॥4॥
मज राखें आतां । तुका ह्मणे पंढरिनाथा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The more one tries to restrain this mind, the more it thrashes and leaps in every direction. What shall I do with this mind now? Why does it forget You, O Lord of Pandhari? Again and again it turns to worldly worry. It does not care for worship or listening to scripture; the moment it sees a sense object it runs. Extremely restless and swift, it comes and goes in the blink of an eye. How long can I guard it morning and evening? Even in sleep it stays awake. Says Tuka, protect me now, O Lord of Pandhari.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The more I press it in, the more it thrashes and leaps every which way. What shall I do with this mind now? Why does it forget You, Lord of Pandhari? Again and again it turns back to worldly worry. It has no taste for worship or for listening; the moment it sees a sense object, it runs. It is restless and quick; it goes and comes in no time at all. How long can I guard it, morning and evening? Even when it sleeps, it stays awake. Tuka says: protect me now, Lord of Pandhari.
What it means
Tukaram confesses that his own mind is the enemy he cannot subdue. The harder he tries to pen it in, the more violently it bolts, and it keeps forgetting Vitthal to chase worldly worry. He names its nature precisely: it has no appetite for worship, it bolts at the first sight of a sense object, it never rests even in sleep. The honest admission is that watching it himself, morning and night, is a losing battle. So the abhanga ends not in resolve but in surrender, handing the ungovernable mind over to the Lord of Pandhari with the plea: protect me now.
Confession and Sin
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