Renunciation, refusing hollow show
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कइंचें कारण । तृष्णा वाढविते सीण ॥1॥
काय करूनि ऐसा संग । सोसें चि तूं पांडुरंग ॥ध्रु.॥
रूपीं नाहीं गोडी । हांवे हांवे उर फोडी ॥2॥
तुका न पडे भरी । ऐशा वरदळाचे थोरी॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What business has desire here? Craving only increases suffering. Why do You, O Panduranga, endure such company? There is no sweetness in outward form. In greed, one only beats one's own chest. Says Tuka, I will not be deceived by the glory of such superficiality.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What use is desire here? Craving only grows and wears me out. Why endure such company, Panduranga? There is no sweetness in outward show. In greed a person only beats his own chest. Tuka says: I will not be taken in by the grandeur of such surface things.
What it means
Tukaram turns on desire itself and asks what it accomplishes, since craving only swells and exhausts. He even asks Panduranga why God puts up with such company in the heart. The outward, showy forms of religion and ambition have no real sweetness; the greedy person, grasping, ends up only striking his own chest in grief. The closing claim is firm: he refuses to be impressed or fooled by impressive surfaces, however grand they look.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
More in this theme →