Surrender, devotion alone reaches God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आहेतें सकळ प्रारब्धा हातीं । यावें काकुलती यासी आतां ॥1॥
ऐसा माझ्या मनें सांगितला भाव । तोंवरीच देव दुजा नाहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघियांची जेव्हां सारावी करकर । भावबळें थार धरूं येसी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज ठेवावें पुजून । आणीक ते गुण नाहीं येथें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Everything rests in the hands of destiny; one must come humbly before that alone. My mind has understood this much: until then, there is no other God. When all the commotion has been sorted out, You can be reached by the strength of devotion alone. Says Tuka, one must worship You and set You above; no other virtue avails here.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Everything lies in the hands of destiny; one can only come humbly before that. My mind has grasped this much: until then, there is no other God. When all the noise is finally settled, You are reached by the strength of devotion alone. Tuka says: one must worship You and set You above all; no other merit counts here.
What it means
Tukaram lays out where real power lies and where it does not. Outward events are in the grip of destiny, and before that there is nothing to do but bow humbly. His settled conviction is that, short of the final reach, there is no other refuge worth calling God. When all the clamor of life is at last sorted out, the only thing that actually reaches God is the force of devotion, not effort or cleverness. So the whole path narrows to one act: worship Him, set Him above everything, because no other virtue carries any weight here.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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