Experience, truth tested in the living
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हे खळवादी मता च पुरता । सत्याची हे सत्ता उपदेश ॥1॥
साक्षत्वेंसी मना आणावीं उत्तरें । परिपाकीं खरें खोटें कळे ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हे एकदेशी शब्द हा उखता । ब्रह्मांडापुरता घेईल त्यासी ॥2॥
तुका विनवणी करी जाणतियां । बहुमतें वांयां श्रमों नये ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This is not the argument of a quarrelsome mind or a merely opinionated stance. This is the authority of truth itself, presented as teaching. Let the answers be brought home to the mind through personal witness; ripening reveals what is true and what is false. This word is not partial or limited; it will encompass the entire universe for whoever grasps it. Says Tuka, I appeal to the discerning: do not exhaust yourselves chasing many doctrines.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This is not the talk of a quarrelsome mind, nor a mere opinion held to its end. This is the authority of truth itself, given as teaching. Bring the answers home to your mind by your own witnessing; in the ripening, true and false become clear. This word is not partial or small; for whoever grasps it, it holds the whole universe. Tuka makes his appeal to the discerning: do not wear yourselves out chasing many doctrines.
What it means
Tukaram is staking the worth of his teaching on truth, not on cleverness. He insists this is not the noise of a contentious man or one more stubborn opinion, but the plain authority of what is real. He asks the listener not to take it on his word but to test it in direct experience, because time and ripening will sort the true from the false. He claims the word is not narrow: rightly received, it opens onto the whole of reality. He closes with a plea to the discerning, the same warning he gives elsewhere, against exhausting oneself running after doctrine upon doctrine.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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