Surrender, waiting for the leftovers
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाहें प्रसादाची वाट । द्यावें धोवोनियां ताट ॥१॥
शेष घेउनि जाईन । तुमचें जालिया भोजन ॥ध्रु.॥
जालों एकसवा । तुम्हां आडुनियां देवा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे चित्त । करूनि राहिलों निश्चित ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I wait for your blessed leftovers; let me wash the plate clean. When your meal is finished, I will carry away what remains. I have become one with you, standing close to you, O God. Says Tuka, I have steadied my mind and remain at peace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I watch for your blessed leftovers; let me wash your plate clean. When your meal is done, I will carry off what remains. I have become one with you, standing close to you, O God. Tuka says: I have steadied my mind and stay here at peace.
What it means
Tukaram asks for nothing grand, only the leftovers from God's plate, the ucchishta that a humble servant is glad to eat. He waits, ready to wash the plate and carry away the remains, taking the lowest place by his own choosing. Yet in that very lowliness he claims the highest thing: standing so close to God that he has become one with him. The point is that the way up is the way down; the servant who wants only the scraps is the one who ends up inseparable from the Master. His mind, fixed on this, is finally still and at peace.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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