Total surrender, the helpless petitioner
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आतां तुज कळेल तें करीं । तारिसी तरि तारीं मारीं । जवळी अथवा दुरी धरीं । घाली संसारीं अथवा नको ॥1॥
शरण आलों नेणतपणें । भाव आणि भक्ती कांहीं च नेणें । मतिमंद सर्वज्ञानें । बहु रंक उणें रंकाहुनी ॥ध्रु.॥
मन िस्थर नाहीं माझिये हातीं। इंिद्रयें धांवतां नावरती । सकळ खुंटलिया युक्ती । शांति निवृित्त जवळी नाहीं ॥2॥
सकळ निवेदिला भाव । तुझिये पायीं ठेविला जीव । आतां करीं कळे तो उपाव । तूं चि सर्व ठाव माझा देवा ॥3॥
राहिलों धरूनि विश्वास । आधार नेटीं तुझी कास । आणीक नेणें मी सायास । तुका ह्मणे यास तुझें उचित ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now do with me as You see fit. Save me if You will, or destroy me. Keep me near or cast me far. Throw me back into the world or do not. I have come to You in my ignorance, knowing nothing of devotion or love. I am dull in all wisdom, more destitute than the poorest wretch. My mind is not steady; it is not in my control. The senses run wild and cannot be restrained. All my strategies are exhausted; peace and tranquility are nowhere near. I have surrendered my entire being at Your feet, placed my very life there. Now apply whatever remedy You know. You alone are my everything, O God. I remain holding fast to faith, clinging firmly to Your support. Says Tuka, I know no other effort; this matter is Yours to resolve.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now do with me whatever you see fit. Save me or kill me. Keep me close or hold me far off. Throw me back into the world, or do not. I have come to you knowing nothing. I know nothing of faith, nothing of devotion. I am dull in all understanding, poorer than the poorest beggar. My mind is not steady; it is not in my hands. The senses run loose and cannot be reined in. Every plan of mine is finished; peace and stillness are nowhere near me. I have laid bare all that I feel. I have set my very life at your feet. Now apply whatever cure you know. You alone are my whole refuge, O God. I stay here holding to faith, gripping your support hard. I know no other effort. Tuka says: this matter is yours to settle as befits you.
What it means
Tukaram hands over the whole decision and keeps nothing back, even his own fate. He offers no merit and no skill; he confesses an unsteady mind, runaway senses, and a stock of strategies that has run completely dry. This is surrender precisely because he has stopped negotiating outcomes: save or destroy, near or far, the world or not, he leaves all of it to God. Having admitted he can do nothing himself, the only thing he still does is hold on, gripping God's support as his single refuge. The closing line puts the burden of the result where he says it belongs, on God, as fitting God's own nature.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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