Surrender, beyond sectarian dispute
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आणीक कांहीं या उत्तराचें काज । नाहीं आतां मज बोलावया ॥1॥
भिन्न भेद हे भावनास्वभाव । नव्हे कांहीं देव एकविध ॥ध्रु.॥
गुण दोष कोणें निवडावे धर्म । कोण जाणे कर्म अकर्म तें ॥2॥
तरिच भलें आतां न करावा संग । दुःखाचा प्रसंग तोडावया ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे गुण गाई या देवाचे । घेई माझे वाचे हे चि धणी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have no more need to argue or reply. These distinctions and differences are matters of temperament and disposition. God is not of any one single kind. Who can sort out virtue and fault between the traditions, or tell the difference between action and inaction? It is better, then, to abandon such company so as to cut off the occasions of sorrow. Says Tuka, let my voice take its fill singing the virtues of this God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have no more need to answer or argue. These divisions and differences come from temperament and disposition; God is not of any one single kind. Who can sort out virtue and fault among the traditions, or tell action from inaction? Better, then, not to keep such company, so as to cut off the occasions of sorrow. Tuka says: let my voice take its fill singing the praises of this God.
What it means
Tukaram steps out of the endless quarrel between schools and sects. He sees that their fixed differences spring from people's varying dispositions, not from God, who cannot be boxed into one form. No one, he says, can finally rank one tradition's virtues and faults over another's, or settle what counts as right action and wrong. Rather than be dragged into that dispute, which only breeds grief, he chooses to leave the disputing company. What is left for him is simple and whole: to spend his voice singing the praise of God, and let that be enough.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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