Renunciation, falling at the shelter
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लोक फार वाखा अमंगळ जाला । त्याचा त्याग केला पांडुरंगा ॥1॥
विषयां वंचलों मीपणा मुकलों । शरण तुज आलों पांडुरंगा ॥ध्रु.॥
घर दार अवघीं तजिलीं नारायणा । जीवींच्या जीवना पांडुरंगा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पडिलों पुंडलिकापाशीं । धांव हृषीकेशी आिंळगीं मज ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The world has grown foul and inauspicious, so I have renounced it, O Panduranga. I have forsaken sense pleasures, given up my ego, and come to Your shelter, O Panduranga. I have abandoned home and family, O Narayana, O life of my life, Panduranga. Says Tuka, I have fallen at Pundalik's feet. Rush to me, O Hrishikeshi, and embrace me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
People have grown many and foul and unholy, so I have left them, Panduranga. I have been cheated of the senses' pleasures, I have lost my I-ness, I have come to your shelter, Panduranga. I have given up house and door, all of it, Narayana, life of my life, Panduranga. Tuka says: I have fallen here at Pundalik's feet. Run, Hrishikeshi, take me in your arms.
What it means
Tukaram traces a withdrawal that ends in surrender. He has turned from a world he finds foul, given up the pleasures of the senses, let go even of his ego, and walked away from home and family. But the poem is not about what he renounced; it is about where he landed. Having emptied his hands, he falls at Pundalik's feet at Pandhari, the very spot that brought Vitthal there, and begs God to come running and embrace him. Renunciation here is only the clearing away; the whole weight of the poem rests on the open-armed welcome he is asking for.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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