Surrender, the senses laid down at the feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विठ्ठलाच्या पायीं बैसोनि राहिलीं । भागलीं नुटित तेणें ॥1॥
आतां त्यांसीं काय चाले माझें बळ । जालोंसें दुर्बळ सत्त्वहीन ।
दग्ध पट दिसे संगति बरवंट । काय त्याचें कारण ॥ध्रु.॥
आळसें दृष्टी न पाहे आपुलें । एक चि देखिलें सर्वरूप ।
मानामान तेथें खुंटोनि राहिलें । पिसुन तो कोण बाप ।
ज्योति ना अंधार अवघा एकंकार। तेथें काय पुण्यपाप ।
विठ्ठलावांचुनि कांहीं च नावडे । वेगळाल्या भावें रूप ॥2॥
बळबडिवार लौकिक वेव्हार । गेली आशा तृष्णा माया ।
सुखदुःखाची वार्ता नाइके । अंतरलों दुरी तया ।
मीतूंपणनिःकाम होऊनि । राहिलों आपुलिया ठायां ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My senses have sat down at Vitthal's feet and, being weary, will not rise. What power do I have against them now? I have become weak and strengthless. A burnt cloth looks whole in its shape, but what is its real substance? In its laziness, the eye does not look at what belongs to it; it has seen everything as one single form. All distinctions of honor and dishonor have come to a stop; who is the fool now? In that state there is neither light nor darkness, only one undivided existence; what room is there for sin or virtue? Nothing pleases except Vitthal; all separate forms have dissolved. Worldly power, status, convention, and custom are gone; desire, greed, and illusion have departed. The news of pleasure and pain is no longer heard; I have grown distant from all that. Having become free of the sense of I and You, desireless, I remain in my own true place.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My senses have sat down at Vitthal's feet and, worn out, will not get up. What power do I have over them now? I have grown weak and without strength. A burnt cloth still looks whole in its shape, but what substance is left in it? In its idleness the eye no longer looks at what is its own; it has seen everything as one single form. Honor and dishonor have come to a stop here; who is the fool now? In that state there is neither light nor darkness, only one undivided being; what room is there for sin or virtue? Nothing pleases except Vitthal; all the separate forms have dissolved. Power, status, custom, and convention are gone; desire, greed, and illusion have left. The talk of pleasure and pain no longer reaches me; I have grown far from all of it. Free of the sense of I and you, with nothing left to want, I rest in my own true place.
What it means
Tukaram describes what happens when the senses stop chasing and simply settle at Vitthal's feet. He pictures himself as a burnt cloth, still holding its shape but emptied of substance, no longer pulled by the world's grip. As the eye stops seeking its old objects, the many separate forms collapse into one, and with that the whole machinery of judging falls silent: honor and dishonor, light and darkness, sin and virtue all lose their footing where only one undivided being remains. He names everything that has drained away, status and custom, desire and greed and illusion, even the report of pleasure and pain. What is left is the deepest surrender of all: the sense of 'I' and 'you' dissolved, wanting nothing, simply resting in his own true place.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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