Surrender, you alone are real
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुजविणं कांहीं । िस्थर राहे ऐसें नाहीं ॥1॥
कळों आलें बहुता रीती । पांडुरंगा माझ्या चित्तीं ॥ध्रु.॥
मोकलिली आस। सर्वभावें जालों दास ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तूं चि खरा । येर वाउगा पसारा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Without You, nothing remains steady; nothing holds. This I have come to know in many ways, O Panduranga, deep in my chitta. I have released all other hopes and become Your servant with my whole being. Says Tuka, You alone are real; everything else is a vain display.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Without you, nothing stays steady. Nothing holds. This I have come to know in many ways, O Panduranga, in my heart. I have let go of all hope elsewhere. With my whole being I have become your servant. Tuka says: you alone are real. Everything else is a useless spread.
What it means
Tukaram states the conclusion that drives his surrender. Through many turns of experience he has learned that nothing apart from God holds steady or lasts, and he addresses this knowing directly to Panduranga. Having seen that, he releases every other hope and gives himself entirely as a servant, with his whole being and not in part. The closing claim is the firm ground under it all: God alone is real, and everything else is a vain, scattered display. The poem is the moment when seeking elsewhere stops because the seeker has settled where reality actually is.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
More in this theme →