Worldly life, weary of bad company
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सर्वथा ही खोटा संग । उपजे भंग मनासी ॥1॥
बहु रंगें भरलें जन । संपन्न चि अवगुणी ॥ध्रु.॥
सेविलिया निःकामबुद्धी। मदें शुद्धी सांडवी ॥2॥
त्रासोनियां बोले तुका । आतां लोकां दंडवत ॥3॥ ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The company of the wicked is wholly false; it only breeds disturbance in the mind. The world is full of colorful displays, abundantly endowed with faults. Even serving the desireless, arrogance makes one abandon good sense. Says Tuka, weary of it all, I now bow to the world from a distance.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The company of the wicked is wholly false; it only breeds disturbance in the mind. People are full of bright displays, richly endowed with faults. Even when served with no selfish aim, pride makes a man lose his good sense. Worn out by it, Tuka says: now I bow to the world from a distance.
What it means
Tukaram describes how the company of bad people unsettles the mind and how the world's brightness only dresses up its faults. He notes that even disinterested service does not cure the proud, because arrogance itself drives out clear judgment, so the corruption is not easily reached from outside. Exhausted by all this, he chooses distance rather than confrontation: he bows to the world, but from afar. The gesture is both respect and withdrawal, a refusal to be drawn into the disturbance. The weariness is honest, and the response is to step back rather than to fight.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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