Seized by God, no strength left
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाली झडपणी खडतर देवता । संचरली आतां निघों नये ॥१॥
मज उपचार झणी उपचार झणी आतां करा । न साहे दुसरा भार कांहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
नेऊनियां घाला चंद्रभागे तिरीं । जीवा नाहीं उरी कांहीं आतां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कळों आलें वर्तमान । माझें तों वचन आच्छादलें ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A fierce deity has seized me; now that she has entered, she will not depart. Attend to me at once; I can bear no other burden. Take me to the bank of the Chandrabhaga; no strength remains in this body. Says Tuka, the truth has become clear; my own words have been swallowed by her power.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A fierce deity has seized me. Now that she has entered, she will not leave. Tend to me at once, tend to me now; I can bear no other weight. Carry me and lay me on the bank of the Chandrabhaga; there is nothing of this life left in me now. Tuka says: the truth has come clear; my own words are swallowed up.
What it means
Tukaram speaks from inside the grip of divine possession, where God has taken hold and will not depart. He asks for the only care that fits: not to be eased, but to be carried to the bank of the Chandrabhaga at Pandharpur, the holy river, since nothing of his separate self remains. The phrase that his own words are swallowed names the loss of the speaker, when the one who is seized can no longer speak as himself. What looks like helplessness is the surrender he has wanted: the truth has become plain only when his own voice is gone.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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