Renunciation, the drum against Maya
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देवाच्या निरोपें पिटितों डांगोरा । लाजे नका थारा देऊं कोणी ॥1॥
मोडिलें या रांडे सुपंथ मारग । चालविलें जग यमपंथें ॥ध्रु.॥
परिचारीं केली आपुली च रूढी । पोटींची ते कुडी ठावी नाहीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आणा राउळा धरून । फजित करून सोडूं मग ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
By God's command I beat this drum: let no one, out of false shame, give shelter to Maya. This seductress has ruined the righteous path and led the whole world down the road to death. She has established her own rule through her attendants, and no one sees the deception in her chitta. Says Tuka, seize her and drag her to the temple; let her be exposed and then released.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
By God's command I beat this drum: out of false shame, let no one give her shelter. This harlot has broken the good road and led the whole world down the path of death. Through her servants she set up her own custom, and no one sees the falseness she carries in her belly. Tuka says: seize her and drag her to the temple. Let her be shamed in public, and then let her go.
What it means
Tukaram makes himself a public crier announcing God's order against Maya, the deluding power. The charge is grave: she has wrecked the good path and herded all the world toward death, and through her agents she has made her own way the accepted custom, so that few even notice the deception she hides. His command to give her no shelter is aimed at the human habit of indulging delusion out of social timidity, not at any person. The remedy he calls for is exposure, dragging the deceiver into the light of the temple where her fraud is seen for what it is.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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