Surrender, the burden is Yours
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तरीं भलें वांयां गेलों । जन्मा आलों मागुता । ह्मणऊनि ठेलों दास । सावकास निर्भयें ॥1॥
उणें पुरें काय माझें। त्याचें ओझें तुह्मांसी ॥ध्रु.॥
सांभाळावें तें म्या काई । अवो आई विठ्ठले । मागें जया जाई नें स्थळा । तुज गोपाळा विसरेंना ॥2॥
आपलें म्यां एकसरें । करुनि बरें घेतलें । तुका ह्मणे नारायणा । आतां जाणां आपुलें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if my life had gone to waste, I was born again, and so I have settled as a servant, at ease and without fear. What is my lack or excess? That burden rests upon You. What is there for me to guard, O Mother Vitthala? Wherever I may go, O Gopala, I will never forget You. I have settled my own affairs once and for all. Says Tuka, O Narayana, now attend to what is Yours.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even if my life had gone to waste, I was born again. So I have settled down as a servant, at ease and unafraid. What is my lack, what is my excess? That weight rests on You. What is there for me to guard, O Mother Vitthal? Wherever I go, O Gopala, I will not forget You. I have settled my own affairs once and for all. Tuka says: O Narayana, now look after what is Yours.
What it means
Tukaram hands over the whole account of himself. He treats a wasted past as already cancelled by a fresh birth, and from that footing he simply becomes a servant who can rest without fear. The pivot is the refrain: my shortfalls and surpluses are no longer my problem to balance, because the burden has passed to God. He keeps only one thing for himself, not forgetting the Lord wherever he goes; everything else he declares closed. The closing line is almost cheeky in its trust: I am now Yours, so the keeping of me is Your job, not mine.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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