Renunciation, advaita that is lived
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न करीं रे संग राहें रे निश्चळ । लागों नेदीं मळ ममतेचा ॥१॥
या नांवें अद्वैत खरें ब्रम्हज्ञान । अनुभवावांचून बडबड ते ॥ध्रु.॥
इंद्रियांचा जय वासनेचा क्षय । संकल्पा ही न ये वरी मन ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे न ये जाणीव अंतरा । अंतरीं या थारा आनंदाचा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not cling; remain steady and still. Do not let the stain of mine-ness touch you. This is what is called true advaita, true knowledge of Brahman; without anubhava, all talk is mere babbling. Conquer the senses, destroy the vasanas, and let not even a sankalpa rise in the mind. Says Tuka, let no sense of separateness enter within; within, let there be the dwelling-place of bliss.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not cling. Stay steady and still. Do not let the stain of mine-ness touch you. This, and only this, is true advaita, the real knowledge of Brahman; without direct experience, all the rest is just babbling. Win mastery over the senses, let the deep cravings wear away, and do not let even a single wish rise up in the mind. Tuka says: let no sense of being separate enter the heart, and within, let bliss itself take up residence.
What it means
Tukaram defines genuine nonduality, and the definition is lived, not spoken. Real advaita is not a doctrine you can recite; it is non-clinging, stillness, and freedom from mine-ness, verified in direct experience. Without that experience, he says flatly, the grandest philosophy is mere babbling. He lists what it actually takes: mastery of the senses, the wearing-away of deep-seated cravings, a mind so quiet that not even a wish stirs in it. The goal is a heart with no trace of separateness left, in which bliss has simply moved in to stay. Knowledge that does not change the heart is only noise.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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