Saints, God living in the world
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
संवसार तीहीं केला पाठमोरा । नाहीं द्रव्य दारा जया चित्तीं ॥१॥
शुभाशुभ नाहीं हर्षामर्ष अंगीं । जनार्दन जगीं होउनि ठेला ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देहें दिला एकसरें । जयासि दुसरें नाहीं मग ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who have turned their backs on worldly life, who hold no desire for wealth or spouse in their chitta, in whom neither good fortune nor bad provokes elation or resentment: they have become Janardana himself, living in the world. Says Tuka, having surrendered the body once and for all, nothing second remains for them.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
They have turned their backs on worldly life. There is no wealth, no wife, in their mind. Good and bad, gain and loss, stir no joy and no resentment in them. They have become Janardana himself, living here in the world. Tuka says: they gave the body away once and for all. For them nothing second remains.
What it means
Tukaram is describing what a true saint actually is. He names it by subtraction: no craving for wealth or spouse, no swing of elation or resentment when fortune turns good or bad. When all of that is gone, what is left is not a holy man but God walking in the world, Janardana himself. The last line lands the claim: such a one surrendered the body completely, and so for him there is no second thing, no other besides God.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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