Moral ideal, detachment levels the road
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मुख्य आधीं विषयत्याग । विधिभाग पाळणें ॥1॥
मन पावे समाधान । हें चि दान देवाचें ॥ध्रु.॥
उदासीन वृित्त देहीं। चाड नाहीं पाळणें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं भय । सम सोय विषमाची॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The foremost step is the renunciation of sense-pleasures and the observance of sacred law. When the mind attains contentment, that itself is God's gift. An attitude of detachment toward the body, without care for its maintenance, is the way. Says Tuka, then there is no fear; the uneven path becomes level.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
First, before all else, give up the chase after sense-pleasures, and keep the sacred rules. When the mind comes to rest, that contentment is itself God's gift. Hold the body with an indifferent heart, with no anxious care to keep it. Tuka says: then there is no fear. The rough and the smooth become the same to you.
What it means
Tukaram lays out an order of practice: first let go of the appetite for sense-pleasures and keep the sacred discipline, and the fruit is a settled mind. He insists that this contentment is not the practitioner's achievement but God's gift. The next step is detachment toward the body, dropping the constant anxious tending of it. The payoff is freedom from fear, where the uneven and even, the hard and the easy, are received the same way, because a person no longer clinging to comfort has nothing left to dread.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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