Renunciation, drop 'I' and 'mine'
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देह आणि देहसंबंधें निंदावीं । इतरें वंदावीं श्वानशूकरें ॥1॥
येणें नांवें जाला मी माझ्याचा झाडा । मोहा नांवें खोडा गर्भवास ॥ध्रु.॥
गृह आणि वित्त स्वदेशा विटावें । इतरा भेटावें श्वापदझाडां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मी हें माझें न यो वाचे । येणें नांवें साचे साधुजन ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The body and all bodily relations should be condemned, while even dogs and pigs who are devoted should be honored. By this understanding, the entanglement of "I" and "mine" is cleared away. Attachment is the fetter that binds the jiva to womb-dwelling. One should feel disgust for home, wealth, and homeland, and embrace even wild beasts and trees. Says Tuka, those holy ones who do not let "I" and "mine" cross their lips are the true saints.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Condemn the body and all the ties of the body. Honor instead even the dogs and pigs who love God. By this, the whole account of 'I' and 'mine' is wiped clean. Attachment is the very fetter that drags the soul back into the womb. Turn away in disgust from house and wealth and homeland; meet instead the beasts and trees of the wild. Tuka says: those whose mouths never say 'I' and 'mine' are the true saints.
What it means
Tukaram inverts the ordinary scale of high and low. He tells you to scorn the body and its relations, and to bow instead before even dogs and pigs if they are turned toward God, because devotion outranks birth. The point of all this is to clear the ledger of 'I' and 'mine,' since that attachment is the chain that keeps pulling the soul back into birth after birth. He pushes it to the edge: prefer the wild over home, wealth, and country, and read the closing line as the test, the true saint is simply the one in whom 'I' and 'mine' have gone silent.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
More in this theme →