Surrender, the servant's place
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सेवकें करावें स्वामीचें वचन । त्यासी हुंतूंपण कामा नये ॥1॥
घेईल जीव कां सारील परतें । भंगलिया चित्तें सांदी जनां॥ध्रु.॥
खद्योतें दावावी रवी केवीं वाट । आपुलें चि नीट उसंतावें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तो ज्ञानाचा सागर । परि नेंदी अगर भिजों भेदें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A servant should follow the master's command. Self-importance has no place in service. Whether the Lord takes one's life or grants deliverance, one who is broken in spirit joins the crowd. A firefly cannot show the sun its way; one should simply keep one's own affairs in order. Says Tuka, He is an ocean of knowledge, yet He does not let the pride of distinction wet even an edge.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A servant should do what the master says. There is no room for self-importance in service. Whether the Lord takes my life or pushes me away, a heart that breaks falls back into the crowd. A firefly cannot show the sun its road; let me just keep my own affairs in order. Tuka says: He is an ocean of knowledge, yet He does not let the pride of separateness wet even an edge of Him.
What it means
Tukaram lays out the whole logic of service in one stroke: the servant obeys, and self-importance has no place at all. He tests this against the hardest cases. If the Lord takes his life or shoves him away, the broken heart that protests has simply rejoined the ordinary crowd; true service does not bargain. The firefly trying to light the sun's path is his picture of the small self presuming to instruct God; better to keep one's own house in order and leave the rest to Him. He ends by naming the trap precisely: God is an ocean of knowing, and the pride that wants to be a separate, distinguished someone cannot so much as touch its edge.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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