Surrender, do not let go of me
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हातींचें न संडावें देवें । शरण आलों जीवें भावें । आपुलें ऐसें ह्मणावें । करितों जीवें निंबलोण ॥1॥
बैसतां संतांचे पंगती । कळों आलें कमळापती । आपुलीं कोणी च नव्हती । निश्चय चित्तीं दृढ जाला ॥ध्रु.॥
येती तुझिया भजना आड । दाविती प्रपंचाचें कोड । कनिष्ठीं रुचि ठेऊनि गोड । देखत नाड कळतसे ॥2॥
मरती मेलीं नेणों किती । तो चि लाभ तयाचे संगती । ह्मणोनि येतों काकुलती । धीर तो चित्तीं दृढ द्यावा ॥3॥
सुखें निंदोत हे जन । न करीं तयांशीं वचन । आदिपिता तूं नारायण । जोडी चरण तुमचे तें ॥4॥
आपलें आपण न करूं हित । करूं हें प्रमाण संचित । तरी मी नष्ट चि पतित । तुका ह्मणे मज संत हांसती ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God should not let go of what is already in hand. I have surrendered with my whole life and soul. Consider me Your own. I offer my life as a waving flame of protection. Sitting in the company of saints, I have come to understand, O Lord of Lakshmi, that none of these worldly relations are truly mine. This conviction has become firm within me. Those who obstruct Your worship come showing the allurements of worldly life. They place sweet attraction in low things, but I can see the trap clearly. So many have died and perished; that is the only gain of their company. Therefore I come to You with humble supplication: grant me firm courage in my heart. Let the world revile me if it will; I will not quarrel with them. You are the primordial father, Narayana; let me be joined to Your feet. Says Tuka, if I do not pursue my own true welfare, then I am indeed pitiable; the saints would rightly laugh at me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God should not let go of what is already in his hand. I have come for refuge with my whole life and heart. Call me your own. I wave my life around you to keep you from harm. Sitting in the company of the saints, I came to understand, O Lord of Lakshmi, that none of these worldly people are mine. That certainty has grown firm in my heart. They come to block your worship, showing off the charm of worldly life. They put a sweet taste in low things, but I see the trap clearly. So many have died and perished. That is the only profit of their company. So I come to you, pleading: set firm courage in my heart. Let the world revile me happily; I will not trade words with them. You are the first father, Narayana. Let me be joined to your feet. If I will not work for my own true good, and instead take fate as my excuse, then I am simply ruined and fallen. Tuka says: the saints would laugh at me.
What it means
Tukaram has surrendered fully and now begs the one thing he most fears to lose: that God, having taken him in hand, will not let go. The saints' company has taught him a hard clarity, that the worldly people he counted as his own are not, a conviction now fixed in him. He sees how the lure of ordinary life comes dressed as something sweet to block real worship, and he names its end plainly, that everyone in that company simply dies and is gone. So he asks for firm courage to ignore the world's scorn and stay joined to the Lord's feet. The closing turn is aimed at himself: if he hides behind fate instead of working for his own true good, he would be ruined and rightly laughed at, so the responsibility to hold on is his too.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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