Experience, only the doer tastes it
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निवडोनि वाण काढिले निराळे । प्रमाण डोहळे यावरि ते ॥1॥
जयाचा विभाग तयासी च फळे । देखणें निराळें कौतुकासी ॥ध्रु.॥
शूर तो ओळखे घायडायहात । येरां होइल मात सांगायासी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझी केळवते वाणी । केला निजस्थानीं जाणवसा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The choice grain has been sorted and set apart; let their longings be the final measure. Each one's share bears fruit for that one alone; to watch it unfold is a separate wonder. The warrior recognizes the blow and the hand that delivers it, while for the rest it becomes merely a tale to tell. Says Tuka, my speech now beckons with refinement. Awareness of the abode within has been established.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The good grain has been sorted out and set apart. Let their own longing be the measure of it. Each one's portion bears fruit for that one alone. To watch it unfold is its own wonder. The warrior knows the blow and the hand that struck it; for everyone else it is only a story to retell. Tuka says: my speech is ripening now. Awareness of the home within me has been set firm.
What it means
Tukaram is saying that spiritual realization cannot be borrowed; it is tasted only by the one who lives it. He compares it to grain already sorted: each person reaps the fruit of their own share, no one else's. The warrior who has actually been in the fight knows the wound and the hand behind it, while bystanders can only repeat the tale. He ends by saying his own words have ripened because awareness has settled in its own native place inside him.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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