Renunciation, surrender sealed in the act
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ह्मणऊनि जालों क्षेत्रींचे संन्यासी । चित्त आशापाशीं आवरूनि ॥1॥
कदापि ही नव्हे सीमा उल्लंघन । केलें विसर्जन आव्हानीं च ॥ध्रु.॥
पारिखा तो आतां जाला दुजा ठाव । दृढ केला भाव एकविध ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कार्यकारणाचा हेवा । नाहीं जीव देवा समपिनला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Therefore I became a renunciant right here in this sacred place, reining in my mind from the snares of desire. Never shall I cross the boundary; the invocation was concluded in the very act of beginning. What was foreign has now become a distant second; my devotion has been made single-pointed and firm. Says Tuka, there is no anxiety about cause or effect; my life has been surrendered to God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
And so I became a renunciant here in this holy place, drawing my mind back from the snares of desire. I will never cross the boundary again; the offering was sealed in the very moment I made it. What was once foreign has now become a distant second; my devotion is made single and firm. Tuka says: there is no anxiety left over cause or effect. My life has been surrendered to God.
What it means
Tukaram describes a vow taken not by leaving the world but by becoming a renunciant right where he stands, at Pandhari, pulling his mind out of the grip of desire. He insists the surrender is irreversible: the moment he made the offering it was sealed, and he will never step back across that line. What used to pull at him from outside has been demoted to a distant second, while his bhakti has been gathered into a single, unwavering point. The release in the last lines is the freedom from worry about consequences, about cause and effect, because once a life is truly given to God the calculating self has nothing left to manage.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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