Inner sacrifice, the ego laid waste
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
एक वेळ प्रायिश्चत्त । केलें चित्त मुंडण ॥1॥
अहंकारा नांवें दोष । त्याचें ओस पाडिले ॥ध्रु.॥
अनुतापें स्नानविधि । यज्ञसििद्ध देहहोम ॥2॥
जीवशिवा होतां चुका । तेथें तुका विनटला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Once and for all I performed the expiation: I shaved the head of my chitta. The fault called ego has been laid waste and emptied out. Through remorse I performed the ritual bath; through the sacrifice of this body I completed the rite. When the error between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul was resolved, Says Tuka, I merged into that very place.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Once and for all I did the penance. I shaved the head of my mind. The fault that is called ego I laid waste and emptied out. With remorse I performed the ritual bath. With this body offered up I completed the fire-rite. The mistake that stood between the soul and the Supreme was undone. Tuka says: there I merged and was lost.
What it means
Tukaram takes the outward rites of expiation and turns every one of them inward. The head he shaves is not his own but his mind, his chitta; the fault he destroys is the ego itself. The cleansing bath is his remorse, and the body offered in the sacrificial fire is this very life given over. When the error that kept the individual soul apart from the Supreme Soul dissolves, nothing of the separate self is left. The penance is finished once and for all because he disappears into that union.
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