Renunciation, weary of the world, leaning only on God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
रुसलों आह्मीं आपुलिया संवसारा । तेथें जनाचारा काय पाड ॥1॥
आह्मां इष्ट मित्र सज्जन सोयरे । नाहीं या दुसरें देवाविण ॥ध्रु.॥
दुराविले बंधु सखे सहोदर । आणीक विचार काय तेथें ॥2॥
उपाधिवचन नाइकती कान । त्रासलें हें मन बहु माझें॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे करा होईल ते दया । सुख दुःख वांयां न धरावें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have turned away from my worldly life, so what use is social convention to me? I have no friend, no companion, no kinsman other than God. I have set aside brothers and close relatives; what further consideration is needed? My ears refuse to hear worldly chatter; my mind is thoroughly weary of it. Says Tuka, show whatever mercy You will. Do not hold on to fleeting joys and sorrows.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have turned away in anger from my own worldly life; so what hold can social custom have on me? My friend, my companion, my well-wisher, my kinsman: I have none but God. I have set aside my brothers and my own blood relations; what further thought is needed there? My ears will not listen to worldly chatter anymore; my mind is utterly weary of it. Tuka says: show me whatever mercy You will. Do not hold on to passing joys and sorrows.
What it means
Tukaram declares a complete break with worldly life and the conventions that bind it. He has put away friends and kin and turned to God as his only relation, so the rules of society no longer reach him. His ears refuse worldly talk and his mind is exhausted by it; the renunciation is not a pose but a real fatigue with the world. He hands the outcome to God, asking for whatever mercy God chooses, and asks that he not be made to cling to joys and sorrows that pass away. What remains when every other tie is cut, he says, is God alone.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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