Surrender, the offered body left empty
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देवाचें निर्माल्य कोण शिवे हातीं । संकल्पासी होती विकल्प ते ॥1॥
वाहिलें देह हें देवा एकसरें । होईल तें बरें तेणें द्वारें ॥ध्रु.॥
होता भार त्याची निवारली खंती । येथें आतां रिती साटवण ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे इच्छे पावविले कष्ट । ह्मणऊनि नष्ट दुरावली ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Who touches the remains of what has been offered to God? Whatever intention arises, doubts spring up with it. This body has been offered to God once and for all; whatever happens through that offering will be good. The burden that was here has been lifted, and its worry has been removed; now the vessel stands empty and clean. Says Tuka, it was desire that brought all the trouble; once desire departed, so did ruin.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Who would touch the leavings already offered to God? Whatever intention you form, doubts spring up beside it. This body has been offered to God once and for all; whatever comes through that offering will be good. The burden that was here is lifted, and its worry with it; now the vessel stands empty. Tuka says: it was desire that brought all the trouble. Once desire left, ruin left too.
What it means
Tukaram treats his own body as something already given away, like food offered to God that no one would now take back for themselves. He notices that fresh intentions only breed fresh doubts, so he stops forming them and rests on the single offering already made, trusting that whatever follows from it will be good. The empty vessel is the point: with the burden handed over, the worry that rode with it is gone. He names the root plainly, that desire was the source of his suffering, and when desire departed, the ruin it was carrying departed with it.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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