Renunciation, solitude over company
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बहु बरें एकाएकीं । संग चुकी करावा ॥1॥
ऐसें बरें जालें ठावें । अनुभवें आपुल्या ॥ध्रु.॥
सांगावें तें काम मना । सलगी जना नेदावी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे निघे अगी । दुजे संगीं आतळतां ॥3॥ ॥2॥
बोलिले कीं कवित्व बुडवणें तेव्हां कवित्व बुडवून पांच दिवस होते ॥
लोकांनीं फार पीडा केली कीं संसारही नाहीं व परमार्थही बुडविला
आणीक कोणी असतें तें जीव देतें मग निद्रा केली ते अभंग ॥ 20 ॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It is far better to be alone; one should avoid company altogether. This has become clear through my own experience. Speak to your own mind what needs to be done, and do not give familiarity to the world. Says Tuka, fire ignites when it touches another; contact with others is perilous.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It is far better to be alone. Avoid company altogether. I know this is so from my own experience. Tell your own mind what must be done; do not give the world your familiarity. Tuka says: fire breaks out when it touches another. Contact with others is dangerous.
What it means
Tukaram is praising solitude and naming why. From his own experience he has found it better to keep apart, to speak the needed counsel to his own mind rather than open himself easily to the crowd. The image of fire catching when it touches something else shows the danger he means: closeness to the wrong company kindles what should stay quiet. The verse points the listener toward inward self-counsel and a guarded, watchful distance from the world.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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