Experience, the trouble of the I
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मीं हें ऐसें काय जाती । अवघड किती पाहातां ॥1॥
नाहीं होत उल्लंघन । नसतां भिन्न दुसरें ॥ध्रु.॥
अंधारानें तेज नेलें। दृष्टीखालें अंतर ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सवें देव । घेतां ठाव दावील ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What is this thing called "I"? How difficult does it seem when you examine it? No transgression actually occurs when there is nothing separate in the first place. Darkness has not carried away the light; the distance is only beneath one's own gaze. Says Tuka, God is with you. If you take Him along, He will show you the way.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What is this thing I call I? See how hard it is when you look closely. There is no real crossing of any line, since there is nothing separate to begin with. Darkness has not carried off the light. The gap is only beneath your own gaze. Tuka says: God is right with you. Take him along, and he will show you the place.
What it means
Tukaram turns the question on the sense of self, which seems solid until it is examined and then proves hard to find. He argues that no real transgression or separation has occurred, because there was never a genuine second thing apart from God for the self to fall away from. The seeming darkness has not actually destroyed the light; the apparent distance lives only in the way one looks, not in reality. The remedy is not effort to bridge a gap but companionship: God is already present alongside you. If you simply take him with you, he himself will reveal the true ground where no separation was.
The Nature of God
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