Trust, God as tender Mother
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लाडें भाकितों करुणा । तूं रे उदाराचा राणा ॥1॥
करिसी आमुचा सांभाळ । तूं रे माउली स्नेहाळ ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं चिंता रे आह्मांसी । तूं चि भार चालविसी ॥2॥
आह्मी जालों उदासीन । तूं चि करिसी जतन ॥3॥
आह्मां नाहीं जीवनास । तूं चि पुरविसी घास ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे भलते सवें । जातां मागें मागें धांवे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
With fond pleading I call out to You, O King of generosity. You look after us, O compassionate Mother. We have no worry at all, for You Yourself carry our every burden. We have become carefree, and You Yourself watch over us. We lack even our daily sustenance, and You Yourself provide each morsel. Says Tuka, wherever we wander, You come running close behind.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
With fond pleading I call out to You, O King of the generous. You take care of us, O loving Mother. We have no worry at all, for You carry our whole burden. We have grown carefree, and You Yourself watch over us. We have nothing to live on, and You Yourself provide each mouthful. Tuka says: wherever we wander, You come running close behind.
What it means
Tukaram speaks in the voice of a child who has handed everything over. He calls God both King of the generous and loving Mother, and on that ground refuses all worry: the burden is God's to carry, not his. The frame is total dependence, freely chosen; having no resources of his own, he trusts God to supply each day's morsel. The final image lands the trust as tenderness, God following the wandering child everywhere, running close behind so he is never lost. Surrender here is not grim resignation but the ease of a child safe in a mother's keeping.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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