Confession, surrender with empty hands
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझा तंव खुंटला उपाव । जेणें तुझे आतुडती पाव । करूं भक्ति तरि नाहीं भाव । नाहीं हातीं जीव कवणेविशीं ॥1॥
धर्म करूं तरि नाहीं चित्त । दान देऊं तरि नाहीं वित्त । नेणें पुजों ब्राह्मण अतीत । नाहीं भूतदया पोटा हातीं ॥2॥
नेणें गुरुदास्य संतसेवन । जप तप अनुष्ठान । नव्हे वैराग्य वनसेवन । नव्हे दमन इंिद्रयांसी ॥3॥
तीर्थ करूं तरि मन नये सवें । व्रत करूं तरि विधि नेणें स्वभावें । देव जरि आहे ह्मणों मजसवें । तरि आपपरावें न वंचे ॥4॥
ह्मणोनि जालों शरणागत । तुझा दास मी अंकित । यास कांहीं न लगे संचित । जालों नििंश्चत तुका ह्मणे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
My remedies are exhausted; I have no means to reach Your feet. To practice devotion I lack true feeling; I have no control over my life in any way. To perform charity I have no wealth; to give donations I have no money. I do not know how to honor brahmins or guests. I have no compassion in my hands or belly to extend to living beings. I do not know the service of a guru, attendance upon saints, chanting, austerity, or ritual practice. Renunciation and forest-dwelling are beyond me; I cannot subdue my senses. To go on pilgrimage, my mind will not come along. To keep a vow, I do not know the proper way. If I say God is with me, I deceive both myself and others. Therefore I have become one who surrenders. I am Your servant, marked as Yours. This requires no accumulated merit. Says Tuka, I am at peace with this.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My tricks are all used up. I have no way to reach your feet. I try to do devotion, but I have no true feeling. My life is not in my own hands at all. I would do my duty, but my mind will not stay on it. I would give in charity, but I have no wealth. I do not know how to honor a brahmin or a guest. I have no compassion in me to give to living things. I do not know how to serve a guru or wait on the saints. I do not know chanting, austerity, or rites. I have no renunciation, no life in the forest. I cannot rule my senses. I would go on pilgrimage, but my mind will not come along. I would keep a vow, but I do not know the proper way. If I say God is with me, I am lying to myself and to others. So I have come to surrender. I am your servant, marked as yours. This needs no store of merit. Tuka says: I am at peace now.
What it means
Tukaram lays out every path to God and admits he can walk none of them. He has no feeling for devotion, no wealth for charity, no knowledge of ritual, no mastery of his senses, no will even for pilgrimage. The point is not self-pity but a clearing of the ground: he refuses to pretend he has earned anything. Having nothing in his hands, he has only one move left, which is to surrender and become Vitthal's servant outright. The relief in the closing line comes from this: when you stop claiming merit you do not need, peace arrives. Surrender asks for empty hands, not full ones.
Confession and Sin
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