Renunciation, cutting the noose of desire
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बंधनाचा तोडूं फांसा । देऊं आशा टाकोनि ॥1॥
नाहीं तें च घेतां शिरीं । होइल दुरी निजपंथ ॥ध्रु.॥
नाथिलें चि माझें तुझें । कोण वोझें वागवी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे अंतराय । देवीं काय जिणें तें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let us break the noose of bondage by casting aside all desire. If we take upon ourselves what does not truly exist, the true path will grow distant. This 'mine' and 'yours' is all a fiction; who would carry such a burden? Says Tuka, what kind of life is it that is lived in separation from God?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let us cut the noose of bondage by throwing away all desire. If we take on our heads what does not really exist, the true path grows distant. This 'mine' and 'yours' is all a fiction. Who would carry such a load? Tuka says: what kind of life is it that is lived apart from God?
What it means
Tukaram treats bondage as a noose and points to the single cut that frees us: dropping desire. His argument is that we tie ourselves up by taking unreal things seriously, loading our heads with what has no real existence, and every such burden pushes the true path further away. The 'mine' and 'yours' that we defend so fiercely is fiction, and he asks who would willingly haul a load that weighs nothing yet crushes everything. The closing question turns it from logic to longing: a life lived in separation from God is hardly worth calling life at all.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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