Renunciation, the seed that will not sprout
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गुळ सांडुनि गोडी घ्यावी । मीठ सांडुनि चवि चाखावी ॥1॥
ऐसा प्रपंच सांडुनि घ्यावा । मग परमार्थ जोडावा॥ध्रु.॥
साकरेचा नव्हे ऊंस । आह्मां कैंचा गर्भवास ॥2॥
बीज भाजुनि केली लाही । जन्ममरण आह्मांसि नाहीं ॥3॥
आकारासी कैंचा ठाव । देह प्रत्यक्ष जाला वाव ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे अवघें जग । सर्वां घटीं पांडुरंग ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Abandon sugar, yet keep its sweetness. Discard salt, yet retain its flavor. In the same way, renounce worldly life and then gain the spiritual treasure. Sugar does not revert to sugarcane; how then can we return to the womb? A seed once roasted into puffed grain will not sprout again; birth and death are no more for us. Where can form find a foothold when the body itself has become empty? Says Tuka, the whole world is pervaded by Panduranga in every being.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Keep the sweetness, but let the sugar go. Keep the flavor, but let the salt go. In the same way, let worldly life go, and then take up the spiritual treasure. Sugar does not turn back into cane; so how can we return to the womb? A seed once roasted into puffed grain will not sprout again; for us there is no more birth and death. Where can form take hold, when the body itself has become empty? Tuka says: the whole world is full of Panduranga, in every single being.
What it means
Tukaram describes a renunciation that keeps the essence and drops only the husk. You do not lose sweetness by letting go of the sugar, and you do not lose the truth by letting go of worldly life; you finally hold it cleanly. He gives two images for the change being irreversible: refined sugar never becomes cane again, and roasted grain never sprouts again, so for the one who has turned, birth and death are finished. With the body seen as empty, separate form has nowhere left to stand. What remains is the one presence, Panduranga, filling every being everywhere.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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