Surrender, the universe in one mouthful
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काम क्रोध आह्मी वाहिले विठ्ठलीं । आवडी धरिली पायांसवें ॥1॥
आतां कोण पाहे मागें परतोनि । गेले हारपोनि देहभाव ॥ध्रु.॥
रििद्धसिद्धी सुखें हाणितल्या लाता । तेथें या प्राकृता कोण मानी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आम्ही विठोबाचे दास । करूनि ठेलों ग्रास ब्रह्मांडाचा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have surrendered lust and anger to Vitthal and fixed my love upon his feet. Now who would look back? All sense of the body has vanished. Spiritual powers and pleasures have been kicked aside; who then would care for these worldly things? Says Tuka, we are Vithoba's servants; we have swallowed the entire universe in one mouthful.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have laid lust and anger at Vitthal's feet, and fixed my love on those feet. Now who turns back to look? All sense of the body is gone. I have kicked away powers and perfections for joy; who then cares for these common things? Tuka says: we are Vithoba's servants; we have swallowed the whole universe in one mouthful.
What it means
Tukaram is describing what total surrender does to a person. He hands over even lust and anger, the two strongest drives, to Vitthal's feet, and once his love is fixed there, the pull of the body simply dies. Then he refuses the rewards a yogi might prize: the spiritual powers and perfections are kicked aside as worthless next to the joy of the feet. The final claim is deliberately huge: the servant of God, having nothing of his own, has in that very emptiness taken in the whole universe at one swallow. To own nothing for oneself is to be larger than everything.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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