Experience, the unstruck sound and the cooled heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आनुहातीं गुंतला नेणे बाहए रंग । वृित्त येतां मग बळ लागे ॥1॥
मदें माते तया नाहीं देहभाव । आपुले आवेव आवरितां ॥ध्रु.॥
आणिकांची वाणी वेद तेणें मुखें । उपचारदुःखें नाठवती ॥2॥
तें सुख बोलतां आश्चर्य या जना । विपरीत मना भासतसे ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे बाहए रंग तो विठ्ठल । अंतर निवालें ब्रह्मरसें ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who is absorbed in the inner, unstruck sound does not notice the outer spectacle. When awareness returns, strength surges forth. The one intoxicated with that ecstasy has no body-consciousness; they cannot contain their own rapture. The words from such a mouth are the Vedas themselves; bodily discomforts are entirely forgotten. When such a one speaks of that bliss, it strikes the world as astonishing, even bewildering to the ordinary mind. Says Tuka, the outer spectacle is Vitthal himself, and the interior is cooled by the nectar of Brahman.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Lost in the inner unstruck sound, he does not see the outer show; when awareness returns, then strength comes. Drunk on that joy, he has no sense of the body; he cannot hold in his own rapture. The words from such a mouth are the Vedas themselves; the pains of the body are not remembered. When he speaks of that joy it strikes people as strange, and seems upside down to the ordinary mind. Tuka says: the outer show too is Vitthal, and within, the heart is cooled by the nectar of Brahman.
What it means
Tukaram is reporting from inside a state of absorption. When the mind sinks into the anahata, the inner unstruck sound, the outer world drops away, and only when awareness comes back does the body have strength again. In that intoxication there is no body-sense, and the joy overflows past holding; whatever such a person says carries the weight of scripture, and bodily pain is forgotten. He warns that this looks bewildering, even backwards, to the ordinary mind, which has no measure for it. The closing resolves the split: the outer spectacle is also Vitthal, while inwardly the heart is cooled and stilled by the nectar of Brahman. Inside and outside are one God.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
More in this theme →