Renunciation, expelling Maya
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आजिवरि होतों तुझे सत्ते खालीं । तोंवरी तों केली विटंबणा ॥1॥
आतां तुज राहों नेदीं या देशांत । ऐसा म्यां समर्थ केला धणी ॥ध्रु.॥
सापें रिग केला कोठें बाळपणीं । होतीसी पापिणी काय जाणों ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे म्यां हा बुडविला वेव्हार । तुझे चि ढोपर सोलावया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Until now I was under your power, O Maya, and you tormented me all that while. Now I will not let you remain in this land, for I have found an almighty Master. You crept in like a serpent somewhere in childhood; who knew then that you were so wicked? Says Tuka, I have drowned this worldly trade and will now flay your very knees.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Until today I lived under your rule, and all that while you mocked and tormented me. Now I will not let you stay in this country, for I have made an almighty one my master. You crept in like a snake somewhere back in my childhood. Who knew then how wicked you were? Tuka says: I have sunk this whole worldly trade, only to skin your very knees.
What it means
Tukaram addresses Maya, the deluding power of the world, as a lifelong oppressor he is finally throwing out. He confesses he lived under her authority and was tormented all the while, and that she slipped into him unnoticed in childhood, like a serpent, before he could recognize how harmful she was. The turning point is that he has now taken an almighty Lord as his master, which gives him the strength to refuse her any further foothold. His closing image is fierce and deliberate: he has deliberately ruined the whole worldly transaction, accepting that loss in order to break Maya's grip entirely.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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