Surrender, God as the only doer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देव आड जाला । तो भोगिता मी उगला । अवघा निवारला । शीण शुभाअशुभाचा ॥१॥
जीवशिवाचें भातुकें । केलें क्रीडाया कौतुकें । कैचीं येथें लोकें । हा आभास अनित्य ॥ध्रु.॥
विष्णुमय खरें जग । येथें लागतसे लाग । वांटिले विभाग । वर्णधर्म हा खेळ तयाचा ॥२॥
अवघी एकाची च वीण । तेथें कैचें भिन्नाभिन्न । वेदपुरुष नारायण । तेणें केला निवाडा ॥३॥
प्रसादाचा रस । तुका लाधला सौरस । पायापाशीं वास । निकट नव्हे निराळा ॥४॥
मंबाजी गोसावी यांनीं स्वामीस पीडा केली - अभंग ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God has interposed Himself as the doer; He is the experiencer, and I have gone silent. All the toil of good and evil has been removed. The play of jiva and Shiva has been made into a child's toy, a plaything of wonder. Says Tuka, what bondage, what liberation? It was all His game from the start.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God has stepped in as the doer. He is the one who experiences; I have gone quiet. All the strain of good and evil is gone. The play of jiva and Shiva was made into a toy, set up for sport and wonder. What people are there here? This appearance does not last. The world is truly full of Vishnu; this is where everything takes hold. The shares were handed out; caste and duty are his game. It is all woven of one thread. Where, then, is separate and not-separate? Narayana, the Person of the Vedas, made the decision. Tuka has tasted the sweet juice of grace. My place is at his feet, close, not apart.
What it means
Tukaram describes what happens when God takes over as the one who acts. Once God is the doer and the experiencer, Tukaram himself falls silent, and the whole exhausting weight of weighing good against evil drops away. He calls the cosmic drama of jiva and Shiva a child's toy God set up for play, and warns that the people and the world we take so seriously are a passing appearance. Yet the world is real as Vishnu's own fullness; even caste and duty are moves in his single game, all woven from one thread, so the old quarrel of separate versus not-separate dissolves. Having tasted that grace, Tukaram says his place is simply at God's feet, close and never apart.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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