True worship, offering and the ego swallowed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जें जें जेथें पावे । तें तें समर्पावें सेवे ॥1॥
सहज पूजा या चि नांवें । गिळत अभिमानें व्हावें ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघें भोगितां गोसावी। आदीं आवसानीं जीवी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सिण । न धरितां नव्हे भिन्न ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Whatever comes at any moment, offer it in service. This is what is truly called worship: to swallow one's ego willingly. Whether enjoying or renouncing, let the Lord be at the center, from beginning to end. Says Tuka, when you bear no weariness, there is no separation.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Whatever comes to you, wherever it comes, offer it in service. This is what is truly called worship: to swallow your own pride. Whether you are enjoying or giving up, keep the Lord at the center, from the start to the very end. Tuka says: carry no weariness, and there is no separation.
What it means
Tukaram redefines worship as a way of living, not a rite. Whatever arrives, good or hard, you hand it back into service; the real offering is your own ego, swallowed deliberately. This holds whether you are enjoying something or renouncing it, as long as the Lord stays at the center of the act from beginning to end. The closing turn names the stakes: if you carry no inner resistance or weariness about it, there is no gap left between you and God. Separation, then, is something the grudging self manufactures, not a fixed distance.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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