Renunciation, dropping the trappings
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उपाधीच्या नांवें घेतला सिंतोडा । नेदूं आतां पीडा आतळों ते ॥१॥
काशासाठीं हात भरूनि धुवावे । चालतिया गोवे मारगासि ॥ध्रु.॥
काय नाहीं देवें करूनि ठेविलें । असें तें आपुलें ते ते ठायीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जेव्हां गेला अहंकार । तेव्हां आपपर बोळविले ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Against upadhi I have taken a hardened resolve; I will not let its torment touch me. Why soil your hands only to have to wash them? Why lay traps across a clear road? Has God not already provided what is needed? What is ours awaits us in its place. Tuka says: when the ego departed, self and other were sent away.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have set a firm resolve against all the false trappings of identity; I will not let their torment touch me again. Why dirty your hands only to have to wash them? Why lay obstacles across a road that is already clear? Has God not already arranged whatever is needed? What is truly yours is waiting for you in its own place. Tuka says: when the ego left, the whole division of self and other was shown the door along with it.
What it means
Tukaram resolves to be done with upadhi, the false add-ons and conditionings the self mistakes for itself. Two homely questions carry the argument: why create a mess just to clean it up, why block a road that is already open? Anxious striving and self-importance are exactly such needless mess-making, since God has already provided, and what is genuinely ours will reach us in its time. The release comes in the last line: when the ego finally departed, it took with it the very split between self and other. Drop the I, and there is no other left to manage.
Renunciation
The case for letting go of worldly attachments and turning wholly to God.
More in this theme →