Surrender, single-minded devotion
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देव आतां आह्मीं केला असे ॠणी । आणिका वांचूनि काय गुंता ॥1॥
एकाचें आर्जव करू एकनिष्ठ । आणिकांचा बोभाट कामा नये ॥ध्रु.॥
बहुतांचे आर्जव केलिया खटपट । नाहीं हा शेवट शुद्ध होत ॥2॥
पुरता विचार आणोनी मानसीं । अंतरलों सर्वासि पई देखा ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा चरणीं असो भाव । तेणें माझा जीव संतोष हा ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have now placed God in my debt. What other entanglement is there? I devote myself single-mindedly to the One; the clamor of others is of no use. Trying to please many only leads to confusion and never reaches a pure conclusion. Having thought it over thoroughly, I have distanced myself from all else. Says Tuka, let my devotion rest at God's feet; that alone is my contentment.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have now made God my debtor. Apart from Him, what else should tie me down? Let me serve the One alone, with a single heart; the noise of others is no use to me. Trying to please many is only trouble; it never comes to a clean end. I have thought it through fully, and so I have stepped back from everything else. Tuka says: let my love rest at God's feet. That alone is my soul's contentment.
What it means
Tukaram argues for undivided devotion by weighing it against the alternative. Serving many masters only breeds confusion and never reaches a clean conclusion, so after thinking it through he withdraws from all of them. He keeps one bond: single-minded service to God, whom his love has, in a sense, placed in his debt. The payoff he names is not gain but peace: with his heart fixed at God's feet, his soul is content.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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