Surrender, serve without self-will
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नये इच्छूं सेवा स्वइच्छा जगाची । अवज्ञा देवाची घडे तेणें ॥1॥
देहाचा निग्रही त्याचें तो सांभाळी । मग नये किळ अंगावरी ॥ध्रु.॥
आपलिया इच्छा माता सेवा करी । न बाधी ते थोरी येणें क्षोभें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सांडा देखीचे दिमाख । मोडसीचें दुःख गांड फाडी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One should not desire the world's service on one's own terms. Doing so is an act of contempt toward God's command. God takes care of the one who disciplines the body. Then one should feel no revulsion at whatever comes. A mother serves the child of her own accord. That service does not become harmful because of the child's tantrums. Says Tuka, abandon the vanity of outward show. The pain of stubbornness tears the arse open.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not seek to serve the world on your own terms; to do so is contempt toward God's command. God guards the one who disciplines the body; then no disgust at whatever comes should rise in you. A mother serves her child of her own accord; her greatness is not harmed by the child's tantrums. Tuka says: drop the vanity of outward show. The pain of stubbornness tears the backside open.
What it means
Tukaram is correcting how service is done, not whether to do it. Service offered on your own terms, to be seen and admired, is really self-will, and he calls that an affront to God's command. The right kind of service is like a mother's care for her child: given freely, undisturbed by the child's tantrums, never lessened by ingratitude. The discipline is to give up the craving for show and to accept whatever comes without revulsion. His blunt closing line warns that stubborn self-importance brings its own crude and painful undoing.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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