Renunciation, the man walking away from his house
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जातो वाराणसी । निरवी गाई घोडे म्हैसी ॥१॥
गेलों येतों नाहीं ऐसा । सत्य मानावा भरवसा ॥ध्रु.॥
नका काढूं माझीं पेवें । तुम्हीं वरळा भूस खावें ॥२॥
भिकारियाचे पाठीं । तुम्ही घेउनि लागा काठी ॥३॥
सांगा जेवाया ब्राम्हण । तरी कापा माझी मान ॥४॥
वोकलिया वोका । म्यां खर्चिला नाहीं रुका ॥५॥
तुम्हीं खावें ताकपाणी । जतन करा तूपलोणी ॥६॥
नाहीं माझें मनीं । पोरें रांडा नागवणी ॥७॥
तुका म्हणे नीट । होतें तैसें बोले स्पष्ट ॥८॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am going to Varanasi; settle the matter of the cows, horses, and buffaloes. Trust me truly when I say that once I have gone I will not return. Do not open my grain stores; you may eat the chaff and husks. Chase any beggars away with a stick. If you invite Brahmins to feast, then cut off my head. I have vomited it all out; I have not spent a single coin. Drink your buttermilk and water, and guard the butter and ghee carefully. I have no concern in my heart for wives and children and their plundering ways. Says Tuka, I am straightforward and speak plainly just as things are.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am going to Varanasi. Settle the cows, the horses, the buffaloes. Believe me truly: once I have gone, I will not come back. Do not open my grain stores; you may eat the chaff and husks. If beggars come, take a stick to them. If you invite Brahmins to feast, then cut off my head. I have vomited it all out. I have not spent a single coin. Drink your buttermilk and water; guard the butter and ghee with care. There is nothing in my heart for wives and children and their grasping ways. Tuka says: I am straightforward, and I speak plainly just as things are.
What it means
This is a sharp, bitter farewell from a man renouncing the household and saying so without softening. Going to Varanasi is the old language for walking away for good, and he wants no doubt about it: he will not return. The cruel-sounding instructions, hoard the grain, beat off beggars, never feed a Brahmin, are aimed at the household's stinginess, the very pattern he is leaving behind, not held up as advice. He says he has vomited it all out, the whole tangle of property and family claims that he calls grasping. The point of self-examination is the grip itself: how a house and its anxieties can own a person until plain speech is the only way to break free.
Autobiography
Tukaram's own account of his life, struggles, awakening, and mission.
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