Renunciation, drive out the ego
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
त्याग तरी ऐसा करा । अहंकारा दवडावें ॥1॥
मग जैसा तैसा राहें । काय पाहें उरलें तें ॥ध्रु.॥
अंतरींचें विषम गाढें । येऊं पुढें नेदावें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे शुद्ध मन । समाधान पाहिजे॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If you would renounce, then renounce like this: drive away your ego. Then remain as you are; what else is left to seek? Do not let the deep and stubborn crookedness within come forward. Says Tuka, a pure mind and true contentment are what is needed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If you want to renounce, then renounce like this: drive the ego away. After that, stay just as you are; what is left to look for? Do not let the deep, stubborn crookedness inside come forward. Tuka says: what is needed is a clean mind and quiet contentment.
What it means
Tukaram redefines renunciation away from outward giving-up and toward the one thing that matters, dropping the ego. Once that is gone, he says, there is nothing left to chase; you can simply remain as you are, in ordinary life. The danger he names is the deep, hardened crookedness within, which must not be allowed to rise up and act. The real fruit is inward: a clean mind and a settled contentment. So the test of renunciation is not your robes or your fasting but whether the ego and its twistedness have actually been put down.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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