Renunciation, the price God answers
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांडुनियां सर्व लौकिकाची लाज । आळवा यदुराज भक्तिभावें ॥1॥
पाहूनियां झाडें वरबडूनि पाला । खाऊनि विठ्ठला आळवावें ॥ध्रु.॥
वेंचूनियां चिंध्या भरूनियां धागा । गुंडाळूनि ढुंगा आळवावें ॥2॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसें मांडिल्या निर्वाण । तया नारायण उपेक्षीना ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Abandoning all worldly shame, call upon Yaduraja with devotion. Go looking at trees, stripping their bark, and eating what you find, and still call upon Vitthal. Gather rags, twist them into thread, wrap them around your waist, and call upon Him. Says Tuka, when one sets out with such utter resolve, Narayana will never forsake that soul.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Throw away all the world's shame, and call on Yaduraja with the cry of a beggar. Look for trees, strip their leaves, eat them, and still call on Vitthal. Gather rags, twist them into thread, wrap them around your waist, and call. Tuka says: when you stage your last stand like this, Narayana will not pass that one by.
What it means
Tukaram describes the cost of calling on God for real, and he does not soften it. Worldly shame is the first thing to drop; then comfort goes, until a person is eating stripped leaves and clothed in rags twisted from scraps. He is not glorifying poverty for its own sake; he is naming the depth of surrender at which the cry becomes total. The Marathi word nirvana here means a last stand, the point past which there is nothing held back. That is the claim: when someone gives up everything down to dignity and food and still keeps crying out, Narayana does not ignore them.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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