Surrender, the bondsman in the saints' courtyard
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हरिजनीं प्राण विकली हे काया । अंकिला मी तया घरीं जालों ॥1॥
ह्मणियें सत्वर करीन सांगतां । घेईन मी देतां शेष त्यांचें ॥ध्रु.॥
आस करूनियां राहेन अंगणीं । उचिष्टाची धणी घ्यावयासी ॥2॥
चालतां ते मागाअ चरणीचे रज । उडती सहज घेइन आतां ॥3॥
दुरि त्यांपासूनि न वजें दवडितां । तुका ह्मणे लाता घेइन अंगीं ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have sold my life and body to the servants of Hari; I have become a bondsman in their household. Tell me what to do and I will do it at once. Whatever remains of their meal, I will gladly receive. I will wait hopefully in their courtyard just to have my fill of their leftovers. As they walk ahead, I will catch the dust rising naturally from their feet. I will not go far from them even if they drive me away. Says Tuka, I will take their kicks upon my body.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have sold my life and my body to the servants of Hari. I have become a bondsman in their house. Tell me, and I will do it at once. Whatever is left of their meal, I will take. I will wait in their courtyard, hoping, to get my fill of their leftovers. As they walk, I will catch the dust that lifts from their feet. I will not go far from them, even if they drive me off. Tuka says: I will take their kicks upon my body.
What it means
Tukaram describes total self-surrender to the saints in the most degrading terms he can find, and means every one of them. He says he has sold himself into bondage in their household and will obey any order at once. Then he reaches for the lowest place a person can take: eating their leftovers, waiting in the courtyard, gathering the dust off their feet. The final line refuses even self-respect as a limit; he will stay close and take their blows rather than leave, because being near them at any cost is worth more to him than dignity.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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