Surrender, God the provider
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बैसोनि निश्चळ करीं त्याचें ध्यान । देईल तो अन्नवस्त्रदाता ॥1॥
काय आह्मां करणें अधिक सांचुनी । देव जाला ॠणी पुरविता ॥ध्रु.॥
दयाळ मयाळ जाणे कळवळा । शरणागतां लळा राखों जाणे ॥2॥
न लगे मागणें सांगणें तयासी। जाणे इच्छा तैसी पुरवी त्याची ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे लेई अळंकार अंगीं । विठ्ठल हा जगीं तूं चि होसी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Sit still and meditate upon Him. He, the giver of food and clothing, will provide. Why should we hoard more than we need? God has taken the debt upon Himself; He is the fulfiller. He is tender-hearted, compassionate, knowing the distress of all. He knows how to keep faith with those who seek refuge. There is no need to ask or to instruct Him. He knows each desire and fulfills it as it is. Says Tuka, wear the Vaishnava marks upon your body. Vitthal in this world becomes none other than you yourself.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Sit still and meditate on him. He gives food and clothing; he will provide. Why should we hoard more than we need? God has made himself the debtor, the one who fulfills. He is kind, tender, he knows our distress; he knows how to keep faith with those who take refuge. There is no need to ask him or to instruct him. He knows each desire and fulfills it as it is. Tuka says: wear the marks of the devotee on your body. Vitthal in this world becomes you yourself.
What it means
Tukaram counsels a surrender that lets go of anxious provision. Sit and meditate, he says, because the one who supplies food and clothing will not fail, so hoarding is needless. He turns the relation around in a daring image: God has taken the debt upon himself and become the one obliged to provide, the tender one who keeps faith with whoever seeks refuge. Because God already knows every desire, there is no need to ask or instruct him. The closing line lands the intimacy: take on the devotee's marks, and Vitthal in this world comes to live as your very self.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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