Surrender, the weight given to God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं वागवीत जाणिवेचें ओझें । स्वामिसेवेकाजे निर्धारु हा ॥1॥
आज्ञा ते प्रमाण हा मनीं निर्धार । येणें फिटे भार निश्चयेसी ॥ध्रु.॥
आळीकरें आह्मी एकविध चित्तें । तैसें होऊं येतें मायबापें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझी ये जातीची सेवा । घातलासे देवावरी भार ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I do not carry the burden of self-importance; my resolve is for the Master's service alone. Whatever the Master commands is my law; this is the firm conviction in my chitta, and by it every burden is lifted. With childlike insistence I pray with a single-pointed mind, and my divine parents respond in kind. Says Tuka, this is the nature of my service: I have placed the entire weight upon God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I do not carry the load of self-importance. My one resolve is to serve the Master. Whatever the Master commands is my law; this is fixed in my mind, and by it every burden is lifted. With childlike insistence I pray with a single mind, and my mother and father answer in the same way. Tuka says: this is the kind of service I do. I have laid the whole weight on God.
What it means
Tukaram describes a service that begins by putting down something most people never set down: the burden of one's own importance. He keeps only one rule, that the Master's command is law, and he reports that this single conviction is what actually lightens the load. The childlike insistence is not weakness but trust: he presses on God the way a child presses on its parents, and he says the divine parents respond in kind. The closing line names the whole transaction: he has not divided the weight with God, he has placed all of it on God.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
More in this theme →