Inner experience, renunciation by renunciation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चिंतनें अचिंत राहिलों निश्चळ । तें चि किती काळ वाढवावें ॥1॥
अबोल्याचा काळ आतां ऐशावरी । वचनाची उरी उरली नाहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
करूं आला तों तों केला लवलाहो । उरों च संदेहे दिला नाहीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मोह परते चि ना मागें । ह्मणउनि त्यागें त्याग जाला ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Through contemplation I abided in the state of no-thought, still and motionless. How long should one go on prolonging even that? The time of silence has come upon me now. Not even a residue of speech remains. Whatever came to be done was done swiftly, leaving no room for doubt. Says Tuka, attachment would simply not retreat. And so through renunciation itself, renunciation was accomplished.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Through contemplation I came to rest in no-thought, still and unmoving. How long should one keep prolonging even that? The time of silence has come upon me now. Not even a trace of speech is left. Whatever there was to do was done at once, leaving no room for doubt. Tuka says: attachment simply would not retreat. And so by renunciation itself, renunciation was accomplished.
What it means
Tukaram describes the far end of the inner journey, where even contemplation has done its work and left him in motionless stillness, and he wonders how long one should keep dwelling there. Silence has now overtaken him, so complete that no residue of speech remains. Everything that needed doing was finished swiftly, with no doubt left to linger. The final paradox is the heart of it: attachment would not let go on its own, so the very act of renouncing had itself to be renounced, until renunciation completed itself. He is naming a state past method, where the means dissolve into the end.
The Necessity of Experience
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