Surrender, God carries the burden
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उत्तम घालावें आमुचिये मुखीं । निवारावें दुःखी होऊनि तें ॥1॥
न बैसे न वजे जवळूनि दुरी । मागें पुढें वारी घातपात ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं शंका असो भलतिये ठायीं । मावळलें पाहीं द्वैताद्वैत ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भार घेतला विठ्ठलें । अंतरीं भरलें बाहए रूप ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He places what is best into our mouths and removes suffering by absorbing it Himself. He does not sit idle, nor does He move far away; He guards us from harm on every side. There is no anxiety wherever we may be, for the distinction of duality and non-duality has dissolved. Says Tuka, Vitthal has taken up my burden; His form fills both the inside and the outside.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He puts what is best into our mouths. He takes our suffering into Himself and removes it. He does not sit apart. He does not go far away. He turns aside the blows that come from front and behind. There is no fear in any place at all. The split of duality and non-duality has set like a sun and gone. Tuka says: Vitthal has taken up my load. His form fills me within and surrounds me without.
What it means
Tukaram pictures God as one who actively feeds and shields the devotee, even absorbing the suffering rather than merely watching it. God neither idles nor withdraws; He stays close enough to deflect harm coming from every direction. With that nearness, fear dissolves wherever the devotee goes, and even the philosophical quarrel between duality and non-duality fades like a setting sun, because it no longer matters when God is this present. The poem ends with Vitthal shouldering the whole burden, His form so complete that it fills the devotee inside and encloses him outside at once.
The Nature of God
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