Abhanga 3673
Real surrender means admitting your own fault honestly, holding nothing of yourself back, and giving with an open, unguarded generosity.
The verse
अपराधी म्हणोनि येतों काकुलती । नाहीं तरी होती काय चाड ॥१॥
येइल तारूं तरी तारा जी देवा । नाहीं तरी सेवा घ्या वो भार ॥ध्रु.॥
कासया मी आतां वंचूं हे शरीर । आहें बारगीर जाई जनें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे मन करूनि मोकळें । आहें साळेंढाळें उदार मी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Apa-rādhī-coming-to-kākulatī — else-what-chāḍa. If-tāru-ferries-ferry-Deva — else-take-sevā-bhāra. Why-spare-śarīra-bāra-gīra-go-among-people. Tukā: mana-mōkaḷē — sāḷē-ḍhāḷē-udāra.
What it means
A 3-verse offer-myself text. I come saying 'I'm an offender'; otherwise I'd have no longing-pull. If the ferry-boat is leaving, ferry me — or take this body for service. Why spare it? — I'm a twelve-wagon-load, let me-be-dispersed-into-people. Tukā: making my mind free, I'm loose-form, open, generous.
For someone today
Tukaram admits he comes to God pleading precisely because he knows he is at fault, saying that without that honest admission there would be no real longing pulling him forward. He offers himself completely, telling God to ferry him across if the boat is leaving, or otherwise simply take his body into service, since he is holding nothing back. He asks why he should spare himself at all when he is ready to be spent among people, given away freely. He ends by saying he has made his mind open and unguarded, generous without holding a tight, calculated shape.
मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की ते देवाकडे याचना करत येतात कारण त्यांना ठाऊक आहे की चूक त्यांचीच आहे, आणि हे प्रामाणिक कबूल केल्याशिवाय त्यांना खरी ओढच वाटली नसती. ते स्वतःला पूर्णपणे अर्पण करतात, सांगतात की तराफा निघत असेल तर मला पैलतीरी न्या, नाहीतर माझे शरीरच सेवेसाठी घ्या. ते विचारतात, स्वतःला का राखून ठेवू, मी तर लोकांमध्ये मोकळेपणाने वाटला जाण्यासाठी सज्ज आहे. शेवटी ते म्हणतात, त्यांनी आपले मन मोकळे आणि बिनहिशेबी उदार बनवले आहे, आखीव-रेखीव नव्हे.
Where this applies
- When you find it easier to be honest about your own faults than to pretend you have none
- When you're ready to offer your time or body fully to a cause instead of holding part of yourself back
- When you catch yourself calculating what you'll give instead of just giving freely
- When you feel a genuine pull toward surrender rather than performing humility for show