Surrender, trading on the master's name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नये जरी कांहीं । तरी भलतें चि वाहीं ॥1॥
ह्मणविल्या ढास । कोण न धरी वेठीस ॥ध्रु.॥
समर्थाच्या नांवें । भलतैसें विकावें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सत्ता । वरी असते बहुतां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if one can bring nothing of real worth, one can carry whatever is at hand. Who would refuse a worker who insists on being employed? In the name of the powerful master, anything can be traded. Says Tuka, the master's authority covers everything.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even if I can bring nothing worth anything, I carry whatever is at hand. Who turns away a worker who insists on serving? In the name of the powerful master, anything at all can be traded. Tuka says: the master's authority covers everyone.
What it means
Tukaram pictures himself as a worthless servant who shows up anyway. He has nothing of real value to offer, so he brings whatever he has, and leans on a simple fact: a master does not refuse a worker who insists on being employed. The leverage is not in the servant but in the name he serves under; backed by a powerful master, even poor goods can be passed off and accepted. This is the logic of surrender: the devotee's standing rests entirely on God's authority, not his own merit, and that authority covers everyone who comes under it.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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