Experience, freedom from death
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मरणा हातीं सुटली काया । विचारें या निश्चयें ॥1॥
नासोनियां गेली खंती । सहजिस्थति भोगाचे ॥ध्रु.॥
न देखें सें जालें श्रम । आलें वर्म हाता हें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कैची कींव । कोठें जीव निराळा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The body has been released from the hands of Death by the strength of discernment. Sorrow has vanished, and the sahaj-sthiti, the natural state of enjoyment, remains. What once appeared as toil is no longer visible, for the secret has come into hand. Says Tuka, where is the question of pity? Where is the jiva as something apart?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The body has been freed from the hands of death by the firm strength of discernment. Sorrow has been destroyed and is gone. The natural state of enjoyment remains. What once looked like toil can no longer be seen, for the secret has come into my hand. Tuka says: where is the question of pity now? Where is the jiva as something apart?
What it means
Tukaram describes the inner shift after the truth becomes his own, not just a teaching. Clear discernment has loosened death's grip on the body, and the sorrow that fed on that fear has simply ended. What is left is the natural, effortless state, and the old sense of life as toil has vanished now that the secret is in hand. The two closing questions are the point: there is no one to pity and no separate self left over. The jiva that seemed to stand apart is not found anywhere.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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