Surrender, handing over the whole burden
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
यथाविधि पूजा करी । सामोग्री तोंवरि हे नाहीं ॥1॥
आतां माझा सर्व भार । तूं दातार चालविसी ॥ध्रु.॥
मंगळ तें तुह्मी जाणां । नारायणा काय तें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे समपिनला । तुज विठ्ठला देहभाव ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I would worship You with proper rites, but I lack the materials for it. Now You, the Bountiful One, carry my entire burden and conduct it forward. You know what is auspicious, O Narayana. Says Tuka, I have surrendered to You, O Vitthal, this very sense of being the body.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I would worship you with the proper rites, but I do not have the materials for them. Now you, the giver, carry my whole burden and lead it forward. You know what is auspicious, Narayana; you know what that is. Tuka says: I have given it over to you, Vitthal, this very sense of being the body.
What it means
Tukaram cannot perform formal worship; he lacks the ritual articles for it. Rather than fail, he turns the lack into surrender, handing his entire load to God and asking God to carry it forward in his place. He no longer tries to decide what is right or auspicious; he leaves that judgment to Narayana, who knows. The final offering is the deepest one: not flowers or rites but the body-sense itself, the conviction of being this body, laid at Vitthal's feet. When even that is given away, nothing of his own is left to manage.
Surrender and Acceptance
The conditions of spiritual receptivity and the letting go of the separate self.
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