Renunciation, begging to be free of people
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
व्हावया भिकारी हें आह्मां कारण । अंतरोनि जन जावें दुरी ॥1॥
संबंध तुटावा शब्दाचा ही स्पर्श । ह्मणऊनि आस मोकलिली ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दुःखें उबगला जीव । ह्मणऊनी कीव भाकीं देवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The reason I would become a beggar is this: to move far from the world of people. Even the touch of their words should be severed, and so I have released all expectations. Says Tuka, my jiva is weary of suffering, and therefore I plead for mercy, O God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The reason I would become a beggar is this: so that people will keep their distance from me. Even the touch of their words should be cut off, and so I have let go of every hope. Tuka says: my jiva is weary of suffering, and so I beg you for pity, O God.
What it means
Tukaram explains why he would choose the beggar's life: not for alms but for distance, so that people will keep away and he can be left alone with God. He wants the contact severed down to the very touch of their speech, and to that end he has released every worldly expectation. The plainness here is the point: this is not a pose of holiness but exhaustion. The closing line lays it bare, that his soul is worn out with suffering, and so renunciation arrives less as triumph than as a tired cry to God for mercy.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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