Saints, known only by their own
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भक्तांचा महिमा भक्त चिं जाणती । दुर्लभ या गति आणिकांसी ॥1॥
जाणोनि नेणते जाले तेणें सुखें । नो बोलोनि मुखें बोलताती ॥ध्रु.॥
अभेदूनि भेद राखियेला अंगीं । वाढावया जगीं प्रेमसुख ॥2॥
टाळ घोष कथा प्रेमाचा सुकाळ । मूढ लोकपाळ तरावया ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे हें तों आहे तयां ठावें । जिहीं एक्या भावें जाणीतलें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The greatness of devotees is known only to devotees; this state is unattainable for others. Those who knew have become as if unknowing, savoring that very happiness. Without opening their mouths, they speak. Within the undivided, they maintain the appearance of difference, so that the joy of love may grow in the world. Cymbals, songs, and sacred katha bring an abundance of love to uplift even the dull and worldly. Says Tuka, this is understood by those who have known it with single-minded devotion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The greatness of devotees is known only to devotees; this state is beyond others' reach. Knowing, they have become as if unknowing, happy in that very joy; without opening their mouths, they speak. Within the undivided they keep a hint of difference, so the joy of love can grow in the world. Cymbals, song, and katha bring a flood of love to carry across even the dull and worldly. Tuka says: this is known to those who have known it with single-minded love.
What it means
Tukaram is describing the inner life of true devotees, which only fellow devotees can recognize. They have moved past the pride of knowledge into a glad simplicity, communicating from heart to heart more than by speech. Though they have realized the undivided reality, they deliberately keep a thread of two-ness, lover and beloved, so that devotional joy has room to flow and spread. The public forms, the cymbals, the singing, the sacred storytelling, are presented as the means by which that love reaches even the dull and worldly and lifts them across.
The Saints
The character and service of true saints: softer than butter, harder than diamond.
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