Self-portrait, the genuine renouncer
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आह्मी क्षेत्रींचे संन्यासी । देहभरित हृषीकेशी । नाहीं केली ऐशी । आशाकामबोहरी ॥1॥
आलें अयाचित अंगा । सहज तें आह्मां भागा । दाता पांडुरंगा । ऐसा करितां नििंश्चती ॥ध्रु.॥
दंड धरिला दंडायमान । मुळीं मुंडिलें मुंडण । बंदी बंद कौपीन । बहिरवास औठडें ॥2॥
काळें साधियेला काळ । मन करूनि निश्चळ । लौकिकीं विटाळ । धरूनि असों ऐकांत ॥3॥
नव्हे वेषधारी । तुका आहाच वरवरी । आहे तैसीं बरीं। खंडें निवडितों वेदांची ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am a sannyasi of the field, my body filled with the Lord of the senses. I have not made such a thorough renunciation of desire and worldly enterprise. Whatever comes to me unsought is naturally my share, for my benefactor is Panduranga. With this certainty I hold firm. I have taken the staff of inner discipline, shaved my head in renunciation, and bound myself with the cord of the loincloth, wearing the outer garment of open sky. I have conquered Time by making the mind still. In worldly eyes I keep the form of purity and dwell in solitude. Says Tuka, I am not a mere wearer of costumes; I am genuine, inside and out. I sift and sort the very syllables of the Vedas.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am a sannyasi of this place, my body filled with the Lord of the senses. I have not made some grand show of giving up desire and worldly enterprise. Whatever comes to me unasked is my natural share, for Panduranga is my provider. Holding this, I am at peace. I have taken the staff of inner discipline, shaved my head at the root, bound myself with the cord of the loincloth, and worn the open sky for a robe. By stilling my mind I have conquered Time itself. In the world's eyes I keep the form of purity and live alone. Tuka says: I am no mere wearer of a costume; I am true within and without. I sift and sort the very syllables of the Vedas.
What it means
Tukaram describes his renunciation from the inside, against the picture of the showy ascetic. He has not staged a dramatic abandonment of the world; instead he takes only what comes to him unbidden, trusting Panduranga as his sole provider, and that trust is what steadies him. The marks of his order, staff, shaved head, loincloth, the bare sky for clothing, he reads inwardly: real discipline, real cutting, real exposure, a mind stilled until Time has no grip on him. The sting in the poem is the distinction between the costume and the man. He insists he is not a veshadhari, one who merely puts on the robe; he is genuine inside and out, and his authority over the very words of the Veda comes from that, not from the outfit.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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