Worldly life, renunciation brings peace
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
प्रारब्धा हातीं जन । सुख सीण पावतसे ॥1॥
करितां घाईळाचा संग । अंगें अंग माखावें ॥ध्रु.॥
आविसा अंगें पीडा वसे । त्यागें असे बहु सुख ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जीव भ्याला । अवघ्या आला बाहेरी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
People are in the hands of destiny, experiencing joy and weariness accordingly. By keeping company with the afflicted, one's own body gets stained. Craving makes affliction cling to the body; in renunciation there is great happiness. Says Tuka, the jiva grew afraid and came out of all of it entirely.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
People are in the hands of their destiny, and so they meet joy and weariness. Keep company with the soiled, and your own body gets smeared. Where there is craving, suffering clings to the body. In letting go there is great happiness. Tuka says: the soul took fright and came out of all of it.
What it means
Tukaram is contrasting bondage to the world with the relief of letting go. Driven by their past karma, people are tossed between pleasure and pain with no say in it. He warns that staying close to what defiles smears you the way handling something dirty stains the hands. The root is craving: where it lives, affliction sticks to the body, while renunciation brings a deep ease. So he says the jiva, frightened by the whole tangle, simply withdrew and came out of it altogether.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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