Rule of the hermit, the heart as the only seat
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निर्वाहापुरतें अन्न आच्छादन । आश्रमासी स्थान कोंपी गुहा ॥1॥
कोठें ही चित्तासी नसावें बंधन । हृदयीं नारायण सांटवावा ॥ध्रु.॥
नये बोलों फार बैसों जनामधीं । सावधान बुद्धी इंिद्रयें दमी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे घडी घडीनें साधावी । त्रिगुणांची गोवी उगवूनि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Take only enough food and clothing for sustenance. Let your hermitage be a hollow or a cave. Let the chitta never be bound to anything. Store Narayana within your heart. Do not speak too much or sit among crowds. Keep the buddhi alert and the senses under control. Says Tuka, each moment should be won by untangling the entanglement of the three gunas.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Take only enough food and clothing to get by. Let your dwelling be a hut or a cave. Let the mind be bound to nothing anywhere. Keep Narayana stored within your heart. Do not talk much or sit among crowds. Keep the understanding alert and the senses in check. Tuka says: each passing moment must be won, by untangling the knot of the three gunas.
What it means
This is a plain rule of life for one who wants God, given as a string of instructions. Tukaram strips outward needs to the minimum, food, clothing, a bare shelter, so nothing of the world's weight clings. The real instruction is inward: let the mind attach to nothing, and keep Narayana lodged in the heart as the one fixed point. Speech and company are cut back because they scatter attention, while the intellect stays watchful and the senses stay reined in. The closing line names the stakes: liberation is not won once and kept; it is won moment by moment, each instant a fresh untangling of the three gunas that keep weaving the self back into bondage.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
More in this theme →