Renunciation, worldly joy holds nothing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुख हें नावडे आह्मां कोणा बळें । नेणसी अंधळें जालीशी तूं ॥1॥
भूक तान कैसी राहिली निश्चळ । खुंटलें चपळ मन ठायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
द्रव्य जीवाहूनि आवडे या जना । आह्मांसी पाषाणाहूनि हीन ॥2॥
सोइरे सज्जन जन आणि वन । अवघें समान काय गुणें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मां जवळी च आहे । सुख दुःख साहे पांडुरंग ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This worldly happiness does not please us; do you not see that, having become blind to it? Hunger and thirst have become still; the restless mind has halted in its place. People love wealth more than life itself, but to us it is lower than stone. Relations, friends, crowds, and wilderness are all the same to us. Says Tuka, Panduranga is always near us, bearing both our joy and our sorrow.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This worldly happiness does not please us, by anyone's urging. Do you not see you have gone blind to it? Hunger and thirst have grown still; the restless mind has stopped where it stands. People love wealth more than life itself; to us it is lower than a stone. Kin, the good, crowds, and the wilderness are all the same to us. What worth is in them? Tuka says: Panduranga is right beside us, bearing both our joy and our sorrow.
What it means
Tukaram describes the state of one who has truly let the world go. No persuasion can make worldly happiness pleasing again; even hunger and thirst fall quiet, and the restless mind comes to rest. He flips the common scale: people prize wealth above life, but to him it ranks below a stone. The marks of indifference go further, since friends, crowds, and empty forest are now all alike to him. What holds it together is the close: Panduranga stays right beside him, carrying both his joy and his sorrow, so nothing else needs to.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
More in this theme →