Surrender at the saints' feet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पडोनियां राहीं । उगा च संतांचिये पायीं ॥1॥
न लगे पुसणें सांगावें । चित्त शुद्ध करीं भावें ॥ध्रु.॥
सहज ते िस्थति। उपदेश परयुक्ति ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भाव । जवळी धरूनि आणी देव॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Simply fall and remain at the feet of the saints. There is no need to ask or to be told; just purify your chitta with sincere devotion. That natural state arises through teachings and wise counsel. Says Tuka, genuine feeling draws God close and brings Him near.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Just fall and stay at the feet of the saints. There is no need to ask, no need to be told; only purify your mind with sincere feeling. The natural state comes through their teaching and wise counsel. Tuka says: real feeling holds God close and brings Him near.
What it means
Tukaram strips the spiritual path down to one simple act: fall at the feet of the saints and stay there. He waves away questioning and instruction as unnecessary; what matters is a heart cleaned by sincere feeling. Even the natural, effortless state of realization, he says, arises from the saints' teaching and counsel, not from one's own striving. The closing claim is the engine of the whole poem: genuine feeling, bhava, is what draws God near. Surrender at the feet of the realized, held by real love, does the work that argument and effort cannot.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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