Surrender, let the master carry it
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय मज एवढा भार । हे वेव्हार चाळवाया ॥1॥
उकल तो जाणे धणी । मज भोजनीं कारण ॥ध्रु.॥
चिंता ज्याची तया शिरीं । लेंकरीं तें खेळावें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सेवट झाल । देव या बोला भोगिता ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Am I burdened with the weight of managing all this worldly business? The master knows how to sort it out; my only concern is to eat the meal He provides. Let the one whose worry it is carry it upon his head; the child should simply play. Says Tuka, when the final reckoning comes, God Himself will take responsibility for these words.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Is so great a weight mine, to manage all this business? The master knows how to untangle it; my only concern is the meal. Let the one whose worry it is carry it on his head; the child should just play. Tuka says: when the final reckoning comes, God will answer for these words.
What it means
Tukaram refuses to take on the management of the whole affair of living, handing it back to the master whose job it is. He keeps for himself only the smallest of cares, the meal set before him, and likens his proper posture to a child at play while the parent shoulders the worry. The image is deliberately small and trusting against a large anxiety. The closing line stakes everything on God: when the final accounting arrives, it is God, not Tukaram, who will stand behind these confident words.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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