The ladder of stations, observance is everything
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ब्रह्मचारी धर्म घोकावें अक्षर । आश्रमीं विचार षटकर्में ॥1॥
वानप्रस्थ तरी संयोगीं वियोग । संन्यास तो त्याग संकल्पाचा ॥ध्रु.॥
परमहंस तरी जाणे सहज वर्म । तेथें याती धर्म कुळ नाहीं ॥2॥
बोले वर्म जो चाले याविरहित । तो जाणा पतित श्रुति बोले ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे कांहीं नाहीं नेमाविण । मोकळा तो सीण दुःख पावे ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The celibate student's dharma is to study the sacred syllables. The householder's duty lies in the sixfold rites of his station. The forest-dweller practices detachment within companionship. The sannyasi's true renunciation is the relinquishing of sankalpa itself. The Paramahamsa knows the natural secret; for him, caste, family, and convention do not exist. But whoever speaks of the secret yet acts against it should be known as a fallen one, so say the scriptures. Says Tuka, without steadfast observance, there is nothing; the undisciplined one suffers in vain.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The student's duty is to recite the sacred syllables. The householder's duty lies in the six rites of his station. The forest-dweller practices letting go even while he lives among others. The sannyasi's renunciation is the giving up of will itself. The Paramahamsa knows the natural secret; for him caste, family, and convention do not apply. But whoever speaks of the secret yet lives against it, know him as fallen; so the scriptures say. Tuka says: without steady observance there is nothing; the undisciplined one suffers for no reason.
What it means
Tukaram walks up the four stations of life, naming the one duty proper to each: the student recites, the householder performs his rites, the forest-dweller loosens his hold, the renouncer surrenders even his own willing. At the top stands the Paramahamsa, for whom caste and custom fall away because he has reached the natural secret. But the warning is the point: the secret is not a thing you can talk your way into. Anyone who preaches the freedom of the highest station while behaving against it is, by scripture's own word, a fallen man. The closing claim cuts both ways: discipline without realization is empty, but freedom claimed without discipline is fraud, and the man who skips the work simply suffers for nothing.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
More in this theme →