Surrender, accept your lot
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
समर्थाचें केलें । कोणां जाईल मोडिलें ॥1॥
वांयां करावी ते उरे । खटपटें सोस पुरे ॥ध्रु.॥
ठेविला जो ठेवा । आपुलाला तैसा खावा ॥2॥
ज्याचें त्याचें हातीं । भुके तयाची फजिती ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे कोटी । बाळे जाले शूळ पोटी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What the Capable One has done, who can undo? Whatever is done in vain only adds to futile struggle. The treasure that has been stored, each one must consume according to their own lot. What belongs to each is in each one's hands; the hungry bring disgrace only upon themselves. Says Tuka, millions of schemes have become thorns in the belly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What the Capable One has done, who can undo? Whatever you do against it is wasted; the struggle only wears you out. The portion that has been stored for you, that is the portion you eat. What belongs to each is in each one's own hands. The hungry one who reaches for more only brings disgrace on himself. Tuka says: millions of schemes have turned into thorns in the belly.
What it means
Tukaram is teaching contentment by pointing at limits we did not set. He calls God the Capable One, the one whose arrangement no effort can reverse, so fighting your allotted portion is wasted strength. Each person eats from what is stored for them; grasping after another's share does not enlarge your own, it only shames you. The closing image is sharp: the countless plans hatched to get more do not feed you, they sit in the belly like thorns. The cure he points to is not laziness but the peace of taking what is given and stopping there.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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