Surrender, carried like a child
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वोडविलें अंग । आतां करूनि घ्यावें सांग ॥1॥
काय पूजा ते मी नेणें । जाणावें जी सर्वजाणें ॥ध्रु.॥
पोटा आलें बाळ। त्याचें जाणावें सकळ ॥2॥
चुका ह्मणे हरी । वाहावें जी कडियेवरी॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have offered my body to You; now make of it what You will. I do not know what proper worship is; You, O all-knowing one, must understand. When a child is born, the mother knows everything it needs. Says Tuka, O Hari, carry me upon Your hip.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have offered my body to You. Now make of it whatever You will. I do not know what proper worship is. You, who know all, must know it for me. When a child is born, the mother knows everything it needs. Tuka says: Hari, carry me on Your hip.
What it means
Tukaram hands his whole body over and tells God to do with it as He pleases, keeping nothing back. He admits he does not know the right way to worship and places that not-knowing on the all-knowing one: You understand what I cannot. The mother and child image carries the surrender: a newborn knows nothing of its own needs, and the mother knows them all and provides without being asked. So Tuka asks to be treated exactly that way, lifted and carried on God's hip like an infant who simply trusts and is held.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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