Surrender, shame cast aside
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जरि हे आड यती लाज । कैसें काज साधतें ॥1॥
कारण केलें उठाउठी । पायीं मिठी घातली ॥ध्रु.॥
समपिनला जीव भाव । धरिला भाव अखंड ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आड कांहीं । काळ नाहीं घातला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If shame had stood in my way, how would this work have been accomplished? The deed was done without delay; I clasped His feet at once. I surrendered my life and my love and held on to Him without a break. Says Tuka, I allowed no obstacle and wasted no time.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If shame had stood in the way, how would the work ever get done? I did the one thing that mattered at once. I clasped His feet and held on. I offered my life and my love. I held to that love without a break. Tuka says: I let nothing block me. I wasted no time.
What it means
Tukaram puts his finger on the obstacle that stops most people, self-consciousness, the shame of throwing oneself at God's feet in front of others. He refuses it outright: had he honored that shame, the one needful thing would never have been accomplished. So he acted without hesitation, gripped the feet, and surrendered life and love in an unbroken hold. The poem is a self-examination turned into instruction: the only thing that delayed nothing was a man willing to look foolish, because the work of surrender cannot wait on dignity.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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