Renunciation, staking life on Govinda
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नको ऐसें जालें अन्न । भूक तान ते गेली ॥1॥
गोविंदाची आवडी जीवा । करीन सेवा धणीवरी ॥ध्रु.॥
राहिलें तें राहो काम । सकळ धर्म देहीचे ॥2॥
देह घरिला त्याचें फळ । आणीक काळ धन्य हा ॥3॥
जाऊं नेदीं करितां सोस । क्षेमा दोष करवीन ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे या च पाठी । आता साटी जीवाची ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I no longer need food; hunger and thirst have left me. My jiva craves only the love of Govinda, and I will serve Him to my full satisfaction. Let all bodily duties and obligations fall away as they may. This body was taken up for His sake, and blessed is the time spent so. I will not let Him go despite all the longing it costs me. Says Tuka, I will stake my very life in pursuit of Him alone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Food has become something I do not want; hunger and thirst have left me. My soul loves Govinda; I will serve him to my full content. Let whatever bodily work remains stay undone; let all the body's duties go. This body was taken up for his sake, and blessed is the time spent so. I will not let him go, however much longing it costs me; I will make even the parting into a fault to be answered for. Tuka says: now, behind this, I stake my very life.
What it means
Tukaram lets the demands of the body fall away under the single hunger for God. He no longer wants food, and ordinary hunger and thirst have gone, because the soul's one craving is to love Govinda and serve him until it is satisfied. He releases all the body's duties as things that can stay undone; the body was taken up only for God's sake, and time spent that way is the blessed time. Then the resolve hardens into a vow: he will not let God go whatever the longing costs, and he stakes his very life on this pursuit. It is the language of one who has decided that nothing else is worth keeping.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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