Renunciation, inward not outward
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मनसुं किया चाहिये पाख । उपर खाक पसारा ॥1॥
कामक्रोधसो संसार । वो सिरभार चलावे ॥2॥
कहे तुका वो संन्यास। छोडे आस तनकी हि ॥3॥
रामभजन सब सार मिठाई । हरि संताप जनमदुख राई ॥ध्रु.॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The devotion of Rama is the sweetest essence of all. It removes the affliction and the sorrow of birth and death. True renunciation must be made within the mind. Outward show is nothing but dust spread over the surface. The world of lust and anger is the burden upon the head, and it drives one endlessly forward. Says Tuka, that is true renunciation: to give up even the longing for one's own body.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The worship of Rama is the sweetest essence of all. It removes the affliction and the sorrow of birth and death. True renunciation must be made within the mind. Outward show is nothing but dust spread over the surface. The world of lust and anger is the burden upon the head, and it drives one endlessly forward. Tuka says: that is true renunciation, to give up even the longing for one's own body.
What it means
Tukaram measures renunciation by where it happens. The real work is in the mind; robes and outward signs are only dust scattered on the surface, hiding nothing underneath. What actually weighs a person down is lust and anger, a load carried on the head that keeps driving them on through life after life. So he sets the bar at its highest: true renunciation is to let go even of the longing for your own body, the last and deepest attachment. And he frames the whole thing in sweetness rather than grimness, because the Name of Rama is itself the sweetest essence, and it is what dissolves the sorrow of birth and death.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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