Surrender, the servant awaiting one word
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं कंटाळलों परि वाटे भय । करावें तें काय न कळतां ॥1॥
जन वन आह्मां समान चि जालें । कामक्रोध गेले पावटणी ॥ध्रु.॥
षडऊर्मी शत्रु जिंतिले अनंता । नामाचिया सत्ताबळें तुझ्या ॥2॥
ह्मणऊनिं मुख्य धर्म आह्मां सेवकांचा ऐसा । स्वामी करी शिरसा पाळावें तें ॥3॥
ह्मणऊनिं तुका अवलोकुनी पाय । वचनाची पाहे वास एका ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am not wearied, yet I feel afraid, for I do not know what to do. Town and forest have become the same to me. Lust and anger have gone by the wayside. The six waves as enemies have been conquered, O Ananta, by the power of Your name. Therefore the chief duty of us servants is this: whatever the Master commands, we obey, placing it upon our heads. Says Tuka, gazing upon Your feet, I wait for the scent of that one word.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am not tired, yet I feel afraid, not knowing what to do. Town and forest have become the same to me; lust and anger have fallen away by the wayside. The six waves, my enemies, have been conquered, O Ananta, by the power of Your Name. So this is the chief duty of us servants: whatever the Master commands, we obey, placing it on our heads. Tuka says: gazing at Your feet, I wait for the trace of that one word.
What it means
Tukaram describes a strange place in the path: he is not worn out, yet he is afraid, because he no longer knows what to do next. He has come far. Town and wilderness feel the same to him, lust and anger have dropped away, and the six inner waves have all been conquered, which he credits entirely to the power of God's Name, not his own effort. Having reached this stillness, he names the servant's whole duty as simple obedience: to take whatever the Master commands and carry it on his head. So he waits, eyes fixed on the feet, listening for the single word of instruction that will tell him what to do.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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