Confession, helpless before the senses
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां मी अनन्य येथें अधिकारी । होइन कोणे परी नेणें देवा ॥1॥
पुराणींचा अर्थ ऐकतां मानस । होतो कासावीस जीव माझा ॥ध्रु.॥
इंिद्रयांचे आह्मी पांगिलों अंकित । त्यांच्यासंगें चित्त रंगलें तें ॥2॥
एकाचें ही जेथें न घडे दमन । अवघीं नेमून कैसीं राखों ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जरी मोकिळसी आतां । तरी मी अनंता वांयां गेलों ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now, how shall I become a devoted one, worthy of this path? I do not know, O God. When I hear the meaning of the scriptures, my jiva is tormented with longing. I am enslaved to the senses, and my mind is colored by their company. I cannot even subdue one of them, so how can I master them all? Says Tuka, if You let go of me now, O Ananta, then I am lost.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now, how do I become one who belongs to You alone, fit for this path? I do not know, O God. When I hear the meaning of the scriptures, my soul is tormented with longing. I am the bonded slave of my senses; my mind is stained with their company. I cannot subdue even one of them. How then can I bind them all and keep them in order? Tuka says: if You let go of me now, O Ananta, then I am lost.
What it means
Tukaram confesses that he wants to belong to God alone, yet finds himself owned by his own senses. Hearing the scriptures only sharpens the ache, because they show him a height he cannot reach by his own strength. He admits he cannot master even one craving, let alone rule them all, so self-effort is exposed as bankrupt. The prayer turns on that admission: he is not asking God to help him try harder, he is asking God simply not to release His grip. If grace lets go, there is nothing in Tukaram strong enough to hold.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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