Lived experience, the patient one
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धीर तो कारण साहे होतो नारायण । नेदी होऊं सीण वाहों चिंता दासांसी ॥1॥
सुखें करावें कीर्तन हषॉ गावे हरिचे गुण। वारी सुदर्शन आपण चि किळकाळ ॥ध्रु.॥
जीव वेची माता बाळा जडभारी होतां । तो तों नव्हे दाता प्राकृतां यां सारिखा ॥2॥
हें तों माझ्या अनुभवें अनुभवा आलें जीवें । तुका ह्मणे सत्य व्हावें आहाच नये कारणा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The one who endures with patience becomes Narayana Himself. He does not let His servants suffer or carry worry. Sing kirtan joyfully; sing the glories of Hari with delight. Sudarshana, His discus, drives away the shrieking death-force. A mother stakes her very life for her child when the danger is mortal. Yet He is no ordinary mortal, bound by such limits. Says Tuka, this has come to me through direct experience, lived in this very life. One need not seek proof elsewhere; there is no call for that at all.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The one who holds steady with patience becomes Narayana himself. He does not let his servants grow weary or carry worry. Sing kirtan with joy; sing the virtues of Hari with delight. His discus, Sudarshana, drives away death itself. A mother spends her own life for her child when mortal danger comes. Yet God is no ordinary giver, limited like such people. Tuka says: this has come to me through my own experience, lived in this very life. It need not be made true by other proof; there is no call for that.
What it means
Tukaram speaks from what he has lived, not from what he has read. The one who endures with patience is met by Narayana, who will not let his servants tire or sink into worry; the right response is joyful kirtan, the singing of Hari's virtues, while the Lord's discus keeps even death at bay. He reaches for the strongest human image of self-giving, a mother who would die for her child, only to say God surpasses it, because he is no ordinary giver bound by mortal limits. The weight of the abhanga rests on the last line: this is direct experience, anubhava, and Tukaram refuses to send the listener looking for outside proof, since the thing has already proved itself in his own life.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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