Surrender, the measuring cup and the master
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माप ह्मणे मी मवितें । भरी धणी ठेवी रितें ॥1॥
देवा अभिमान नको । माझेठायीं देऊं सकों ॥ध्रु.॥
देशी चाले सिका । रितें कोण लेखी रंका ॥2॥
हातीं सूत्रदोरी । तुका ह्मणे त्याची थोरी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The measuring cup says, "I do the measuring," but it is the master who fills and empties it. O God, do not let pride take residence in me. The coin that circulates has the king's stamp upon it; who pays heed to an empty pauper? Says Tuka, the greatness belongs to the one who holds the string.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The measuring cup says, I do the measuring. But it is the master who fills it and sets it down empty. O God, do not let pride live in me. Do not let me say the work is mine. The coin that passes from hand to hand carries the king's stamp; who looks twice at an empty pauper? The string is in your hand. Tuka says: the greatness is his.
What it means
Tukaram catches the soul in the act of self-congratulation and corrects it with a homely image. A measuring cup boasts that it does the measuring, but it has no will of its own; the master fills it and empties it as he pleases. So he prays that the same pride never settle in him, that he never claim the work as his doing. A coin is honored only because the king's stamp is on it, not for itself, just as a puppet moves only because someone holds the string. Whatever greatness shows through him belongs to the one who holds the string.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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