HELD BY WHAT WE HOLD: THE WISDOM OF TARA

by Janka O. and Marie C | May, 2026 Om tare tutare ture sohā

-Tibetan Mantra O Goddess Tara, deliver us from suffering by teaching us to let go of that which is holding

us from freedom. This mantra does not ask Tara to remove our suffering. Rather, it asks her to teach us how to release what binds us. That distinction makes all the difference.

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Tara embodies absolute compassion. She extends her hand when our pain feels overwhelming. As the Green Goddess, she represents hope; her green radiance guides us back to the path when everything appears shadowed. She symbolises compassion in action, protection, fearlessness, and the feminine principle of awakened wisdom.

Yet Tara is not merely a comforting maternal figure. Her deeper message is clear: awakening requires courage — the willingness to move through fear rather than remain imprisoned by it.

In Buddhist understanding, suffering (dukkha) does not arise primarily from outer circumstances but from ignorance (avidyā), false identification (asmitā), attachment (rāga), aversion (dveṣa), and the deep-seated fear of loss and death (abhiniveśa).

These inner causes operate on the level of thought and perception. They shape the mental patterns from which our experience of reality arises. The Buddha taught: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” Ralph Waldo Emerson echoed this insight: “The ancestor of every action is a thought.” Our thoughts shape our choices; our choices shape our lives. What we perceive is filtered through the mind — and through practice, the mind can be clarified.

Yoga philosophy reminds us that we often confuse absolute reality (Purusha) with the changing field of experience (Prakriti). Practice gradually removes what obscures this distinction. Whatever arises, do not cling to it. The turning point lies in letting go. The mantra does not ask for life to be fixed; it asks for instruction. Implicit in this request is a radical premise: the root of our unfreedom lies in our grasping.

What do we cling to? Stories about ourselves. Fear of loss. Control. Identity. Resentment. Expectations. Attachments to roles, relationships, and outcomes. The subtle reversal within the Tara mantra is this: nothing holds us captive — we are the ones holding on. Tara symbolises the courage to recognise our grasping and to release it. Likewise, when Krishna advises Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gītā (2.47) not to cling to the fruits of action, he points toward disciplined non-attachment as a path to freedom.

This mantra therefore speaks of responsibility and vairāgya — non-attachment. It invites clarity and courage to release patterns that prevent us from inhabiting the present moment. What falls away is illusion; what remains is freedom.

The invitation extends beyond the individual. Inner transformation and collective transformation are inseparable. When we release what no longer serves growth — personally or collectively — we create the conditions for renewal. A society evolves when its individuals cultivate awareness. Inner clarity becomes outer responsibility.

“Om tare tutare ture soha” asks neither for rescue nor escape. It asks to awaken, and to embody fearless compassion in a world that urgently needs both hope and clarity.