Grace alone, effort cannot reach God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय फार जरी जालों मी शाहाणा । तरी नारायणा नातुडसी ॥1॥
काय जालें जरी मानी मज मन । परि नातुडति चरण तुझे देवा ॥ध्रु.॥
काय जालें जरी जालों उदासीन । परि वर्म भिन्न तुझें देवा ॥2॥
काय जालें जरी केले म्यां सायास । ह्मणवितों दास भक्त तुझा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे तुज दाविल्यावांचून । तुझें वर्म कोण जाणे देवा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if I become very learned, O Narayana, I cannot reach You. Even if my own mind respects me, Your feet still elude me, O God. Even if I become detached, Your secret remains hidden, O Lord. Even if I undertake great efforts and call myself Your servant and devotee, it avails nothing. Says Tuka, unless You reveal Yourself, who can know Your mystery, O God?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even if I become very learned, O Narayana, I still cannot reach You. Even if my own mind respects me, Your feet still slip away from me, O God. Even if I become detached, Your secret stays hidden, O God. Even if I labor hard and call myself Your servant, Your devotee, it comes to nothing. Tuka says: unless You show Yourself, who can know Your mystery, O God?
What it means
Tukaram is taking apart the idea that you can earn your way to God. He lists the things a seeker is proud of: learning, self-respect, detachment, hard discipline, the title of servant and devotee. One by one he says each of them fails to reach the feet. The point is not that effort is bad, but that it cannot pry open what only God can open. The mystery stays sealed until God Himself reveals it; the last word belongs to grace, not to the seeker's striving.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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