Renunciation, the painful pull of two loves
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वैराग्याचा अंगीं जालासे संचार । इच्छी वनांतर सेवावया ॥1॥
कां जी याचें करूं नये समाधान । वियोगानें मन सिणतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
नये चि यावया पंढरीचें मूळ । न देवे चि माळ कंठींची ही ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जालें अप्रीतीचें जिणें । लाजिर हें वाणें सेवा करी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A spirit of renunciation has entered his being, and he desires to retire to the forest. Why should his mind not be given peace? The soul suffers from separation. He cannot shake the pull of Pandhari and will not give up the garland from around his neck. Says Tuka, life has become joyless and distasteful. A shameful existence it is to serve under such conditions.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A spirit of renunciation has entered him. He longs to go off and serve in the forest. Why should his mind not be given peace? Being apart wears the soul down. Yet he cannot escape the pull of Pandhari, and he will not give up the garland at his throat. Tuka says: life has turned joyless and bitter. It is a shameful thing to serve in such a state.
What it means
Tukaram traces a man torn between two genuine pulls: a rising urge to renounce the world and withdraw to the forest, and an attachment to Pandhari and the garland of his devotion that he cannot bring himself to drop. Neither love will release him, and the separation, from peace, from the Lord, grinds the soul down. He names the result without softening it: life has gone joyless, and to keep serving while inwardly so divided feels shameful to him. The poem holds the ache of devotion that has not yet been resolved into rest.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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