Renunciation, the kingless king who owns nothing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
रििद्धसिद्धी दासी कामधेनु घरीं । परि नाहीं भाकरी भक्षावया ॥1॥
लोडें वालिस्तें पलंग सुपति । परि नाहीं लंगोटी नेसावया ॥ध्रु.॥
पुसाल तरि आह्मां वैकुंठींचा वास । परि नाहीं राहएास ठाव कोठें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी राजे त्रैलोक्याचे । परि नाहीं कोणाचें उणे पुरें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Riddhi and siddhi are our maidservants, and Kamadhenu dwells in our home, yet we have no bread to eat. We have cushions, bolsters, and fine beds, yet we have no loincloth to wear. If you ask, we dwell in Vaikuntha, yet we have no shelter anywhere. Says Tuka, we are the kings of the three worlds, yet we owe nothing to anyone and need nothing from anyone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Riddhi and siddhi are our maidservants, and Kamadhenu lives in our house, yet we have no bread to eat. We have cushions, bolsters, and fine beds, yet we have no loincloth to wear. If you ask, we live in Vaikuntha, yet we have no shelter anywhere. Tuka says: we are kings of the three worlds, yet we owe nothing to anyone and need nothing from anyone.
What it means
Tukaram speaks in riddles that hold both halves of the devotee's life at once. By God's grace all powers and treasures are his, riddhi and siddhi as servants, the wish-cow at home, the seat of Vaikuntha, the kingship of the three worlds, yet in plain fact he has no bread, no cloth, no roof. The two sides do not cancel out; they describe one state. Having God, he is utterly rich; wanting nothing of the world, he is utterly poor, and free. The last line is the resolution: needing nothing and owing nothing, he is a king precisely because he possesses nothing.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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