Surrender, the mind held in hand
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तरीं च म्यां देवा । साटी करूनियां जीवा ॥1॥
आवरिल्या वृित्त । मन घेउनियां हातीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जरा । बाहेर येऊं नेदीं घरा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Only then, O Lord, did I wager my very life and rein in all the movements of the mind, taking it firmly in hand. Says Tuka, I will not let it venture even a step outside the house.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Only then, O God, did I stake my very life. I reined in all the movements of the mind and took it firmly in hand. Tuka says: I will not let it step outside the house.
What it means
Tukaram describes the cost and the discipline of surrender. He gambled his whole life, holding nothing back, and only then could he gather in the scattered movements of the mind and grip it firmly. The closing image is plain and exact: the mind is like something that wants to wander out of doors, and he simply refuses to let it leave the house. Surrender here is not a feeling but a steady, daily holding of the mind in place.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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