Renunciation, the sweetness of solitude
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निरोधाचें मज न साहे वचन । बहु होतें मन कासावीस ॥1॥
ह्मणऊनि जीवा न साहे संगति । बैसतां एकांतीं गोड वाटे ॥ध्रु.॥
देहाची भावना वासनेचा संग । नावडे उबग आला यांचा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देव अंतरे ज्यामुळें । आशामोहोजाळें दुःख वाढे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I cannot bear words of restraint. My mind grows deeply troubled. That is why the jiva cannot bear company. Sitting alone feels sweet. I am weary of the body-identification and the company of desire. They have become repellent to me. Says Tuka, whatever causes God to recede, whatever multiplies through the net of craving and delusion, that only increases sorrow.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I cannot bear words of restraint. My mind grows deeply troubled by them. So my jiva cannot bear company. Sitting alone feels sweet to me. The body-sense, the company of desire: I no longer want them. I have grown sick of them. Tuka says: whatever causes God to recede, whatever multiplies through the net of craving and delusion, that only increases sorrow.
What it means
Tukaram describes a turning point where the ordinary pulls of life have become unbearable to him. Talk that hems him in agitates his mind, and company itself has lost its appeal, while solitude has begun to taste sweet. He has grown weary of identifying with the body and of keeping company with his own desires; they now repel rather than attract him. The closing line names the principle behind the recoil: anything that pushes God further away, anything that feeds the net of craving and delusion, can only enlarge sorrow, so he turns from it toward the solitude where God draws near.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
More in this theme →