Renunciation, women and wealth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
िस्त्रया धन बा हें खोटें । नागवले मोठे मोठे ॥1॥
ह्मणोनि सांडा दोनी । सुख पावाल निदानीं ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्वदुःखासी कारण । हीं च दोन्हीचीं प्रमाण ॥2॥
आशा सर्वस्वें सांडावी । तेणें निजपदवी पावावी ॥3॥
देह लोभें नाडला । घाला यमाचा पडला॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे निरापेक्षा । कांहीं न धरावी अपेक्षा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Women and wealth are false; they have ruined even the mightiest. Therefore abandon both, and you will find peace in the end. These two alone are the root cause of all suffering. Desire must be abandoned entirely, and by that one attains the supreme state. The body deluded by greed falls into Yama's trap. Says Tuka, be free of all expectation; hold onto no craving whatsoever.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Women and wealth are false, my friend; they have stripped even the great ones bare. So let both go, and in the end you will find peace. These two alone are the cause of all sorrow; both are the proof of it. Desire must be given up entirely, and by that the true state is reached. The body deluded by greed has fallen into Yama's trap. Tuka says: want nothing; hold to no craving at all.
What it means
Tukaram is naming two snares and the cost of carrying them. He calls women and wealth false because the security people stake on them does not hold; even the mighty have been ruined by them. He does not soften the prescription: let both go entirely, give up desire itself, and the true state opens. The stakes are stated plainly, the body lost to greed falls into death's noose. Read for self-examination, the abhanga is less about scorning others than about loosening one's own grip on what cannot be kept.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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