Renunciation, holding nothing back
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कडसणी धरितां अडचणीचा ठाव । ह्मणऊनि जीव त्रासलासे ॥1॥
लौकिकाबाहेरि राहिलों निराळा । तुजविण वेगळा नाहीं तुजा ॥ध्रु.॥
संकोचानें नाहीं होत धणीवरी । उरवूनि उरी काय काज ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे केलें इच्छे चि सारिखें । नाहींसें पारिखें येथें कोणी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Holding to restraint in a place of difficulty has wearied my jiva. I have stepped outside all worldly convention. Apart from You, there is nothing separate from You. Satisfaction does not come through holding back; what use is it to keep something in reserve? Says Tuka, I have done exactly as my desire prompted. Here, no one is a stranger.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Trying to hold myself in check, in this hard place, has worn my life out. So I have stepped outside the world of opinion, set apart. Apart from You there is nothing that is not You. Holding back never brings me to fullness; what use is it to keep some part in reserve? Tuka says: I have done exactly as my longing pushed me. Here no one is a stranger.
What it means
Tukaram explains why he has dropped the careful restraint that public life demanded. Trying to keep himself measured and proper exhausted him, so he stepped clear of worldly convention and convention's judgment. His reason is a clean nondual claim: nothing exists apart from God, so there is nowhere and no one to be guarded against. Hedging and keeping a portion in reserve can never satisfy; only full self-giving does. He has followed his desire for God all the way, and in a world that is wholly God, no one stands outside as an alien.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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