Surrender, the end of scheming
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
शरणागत जालों । तेणें मीपणा मुकलों ॥1॥
आतां दिल्याची च वाट । पाहों नाहीं खटपट ॥ध्रु.॥
नलगे उचित । कांहीं पाहावें संचित ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सेवा । माने तैसी करूं देवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Having surrendered, I have lost all sense of I. Now I simply wait for what is given; there is no more striving or scheming. I need not weigh what is fitting or consult the ledgers of karma. Says Tuka, I shall serve God in whatever way pleases Him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have taken refuge, and so I have lost my sense of I. Now I only wait for what is given. I do not strive or scheme. I need not weigh what is fitting. I need not look at my store of past deeds. Tuka says: I will serve God in whatever way pleases Him.
What it means
Tukaram names what surrender actually costs and frees: when he takes refuge, the sense of a separate self managing its own fate falls away. With that gone, the whole machinery of striving, calculating, and weighing the karmic ledger stops too, because none of it is his to run anymore. He simply waits for whatever is given. The poem ends by handing even the form of his service over to God, so that nothing is left for the I to decide.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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