The one duty, against cleverness
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विधीनें सेवन । विषयत्यागातें समान ॥१॥
मुख्य धर्म देव चित्तीं । आदि अवसान अंतीं ॥ध्रु.॥
बहु अतिशय खोटा । तर्कें होती बहु वाटा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे भावें । कृपा करीजेते देवें ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Enjoying the senses according to scriptural injunction is equal to renouncing them. The chief duty is to hold God in one's chitta, from beginning to end. Excessive cleverness is false; logic only multiplies paths. Says Tuka, through devotion, God bestows grace.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To enjoy the senses as the scriptures allow is the same as giving them up. The chief duty is to hold God in the mind, at the beginning, through the middle, and at the end. Too much cleverness is false; reasoning only opens many roads. Tuka says: God gives his grace to the one who has love.
What it means
Tukaram cuts the knot between enjoying the world and renouncing it. If you receive what the senses bring as the scriptures permit, with God held in the mind, that holding is itself a renunciation; the one duty underneath every rule is to keep God in the heart from start to finish. He then names the false road: clever argument, which does not lead home but only forks into more and more paths. The one thing that draws grace is not sharpness of mind but love.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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