Confession, the scattered mind
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
एकविध वृित्त न राहे अंतरीं । स्मरणीं च हरी विस्मृति ॥1॥
कैसा हा नवलाव वाटतो अनुभवें । मज माझ्या जीवें सािक्षत्वेसी ॥ध्रु.॥
न राहे निश्चळ जागवितां मन । किती क्षीणेंक्षीणें सावरावें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बहु केले वेवसाव । तेणें रंगें जीव रंगलासे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A single-pointed state does not remain within; even while remembering Hari, forgetfulness sets in. What a strange experience this seems, witnessed by my own self within myself. The mind will not stay still even when roused; again and again it must be painstakingly gathered back. Says Tuka, I have spent my life in so many engagements that the soul has taken on their very color.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A one-pointed state will not stay inside me; even while remembering Hari, forgetting comes. How strange this is, I feel it in my own experience, witnessed by my own life within me. The mind will not hold still even when I rouse it; weak and weaker, how often must I gather it back. Tuka says: I have spent my life in so many pursuits that the soul has taken on their color.
What it means
Tukaram names the ordinary defeat of the inner life with painful honesty. He wants a single, steady attention, but even in the act of remembering God, forgetfulness slips back in. He treats this not as theory but as something he watches in himself, his own life the witness of his own failure. The mind will not stay quiet however hard he wakes it, and he must keep dragging it back, growing weaker each time. He diagnoses the cause without flinching: a life poured into countless engagements has dyed the soul their color, so it cannot easily take the one color it now wants.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
More in this theme →