Renunciation, guard your own ground
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जप करितां राग । आला जवळी तो मांग ॥१॥
नको भोंवतालें जगीं । पाहों जवळी राख अंगीं ॥ध्रु.॥
कुड्याची संगती । सदा भोजन पंगती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ब्रम्ह । साधी विरहित कर्म ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
While performing japa, one whom society had cast out came and sat down near me. I need not look around at the world; let me keep sacred ash upon my body. The company of the crooked infects even the communal meal. Says Tuka, seek Brahman free from the entanglement of ritual action.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
While I did my japa, one whom the world had cast out came and sat near me. I need not look around at the world; let me keep the sacred ash on my own body. The company of the crooked spoils even the shared meal. Tuka says: seek Brahman, with action set free from attachment.
What it means
Tukaram is turning a moment of social tension into counsel about where to keep your eyes. Mid prayer, someone the world rejects sits down beside him, and his answer is not to scan and judge the world around him but to keep the sacred ash on his own body, to mind his own discipline. He grants that bad company can corrupt even something as ordinary and shared as a common meal, so vigilance is real. But the resolution points inward and upward: seek Brahman, and let your action be free of the grip of attachment. The work is on yourself, not on policing others.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
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