Surrender, contemplation as service
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बोलोनियां काय दावूं । तुह्मी जीऊ जगाचे ॥1॥
हे चि आतां माझी सेवा । चिंतन देवा करितों ॥ध्रु.॥
विरक्तासी देह तुच्छ । नाहीं आस देहाची ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पायापाशीं । येइन ऐसी वासना ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What can I show You by merely speaking? You are the very life of the world. This alone is my service now: I contemplate You, O God. For the detached one, the body is trivial; there is no clinging to it. Says Tuka, may my desire be only this: to arrive at Your feet.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What can I show you just by speaking? You are the life of the whole world. This alone is my service now: I hold you in my thoughts, O God. To one set apart in longing, the body is a trifle; there is no clinging to it. Tuka says: let this be my one desire, that I come to rest at your feet.
What it means
Tukaram admits that words can prove nothing to the One who is the life of all the world. So he reduces his whole offering to a single act: holding God constantly in mind, and he calls that contemplation his service. Caught in the ache of separation, he counts the body as a trifle and lets go of any clinging to it. The one desire he keeps is small and total at once: to arrive and stay at the Lord's feet.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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