Surrender, life exchanged for life
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
करितां विचार सांपडलें वर्म । समूळ निश्रम परिहाराचें॥1॥
मज घेऊनियां आपणांसी द्यावें । साटी जीवें जीवें नारायणा ॥ध्रु.॥
उरी नाहीं मग पडदा कां आला । स्वमुखें चि भला करितां वाद ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझें खरें देणें घेणें । तुह्मी साक्षी जाणें अंतरींचें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Upon reflection, the essential truth has been found: the remedy that uproots all effort completely. Take me and give me to Yourself; let us exchange life for life, O Narayana. Then no veil remains between us; why should any barrier arise when both parties agree? Says Tuka, my transaction is genuine; You are the witness who knows the chitta.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When I thought it through, I found the secret: the remedy that pulls up all effort by the root. Take me, and give yourself to me; let us trade, life for life, O Narayana. Then nothing is held back, so why has any curtain come between us? With your own mouth, you yourself once owned the quarrel. Tuka says: my giving and taking is genuine; you are the witness, you know what is in the heart.
What it means
Tukaram describes the bargain that ends all striving. Reflecting on it, he finds the one remedy that uproots effort completely, and states it as a trade: take me entirely, and give yourself entirely to me, life for life. He reasons that once both sides give themselves with nothing held back, there can be no veil left between them, and he gently presses God on a promise God Himself once made. The closing line is his pledge and his appeal at once. His side of the exchange is real and total, and he calls on God, the witness who reads every heart, to verify it and answer in kind.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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