Ripeness, the fruit that falls in its own time
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
फळ पिके देंठीं । निमित्य वारियाची भेटी ॥1॥
हा तों अनुभव रोकडा । कळों येतो खरा कुडा ॥ध्रु.॥
तोडिलिया बळें। वांयां जाती काचीं फळें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मन । तेथे आपुलें कारण ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A fruit ripens on the stem, and the wind merely provides the occasion for its falling. This is direct experience; from it one can tell the genuine from the false. If plucked by force before its time, the unripe fruit goes to waste. Says Tuka, the mind must find its own cause and readiness within.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A fruit ripens on the stem. The wind only gives it the moment to fall. This is direct experience. By it you can tell the true from the false. If you pluck the fruit by force before its time, the unripe fruit is wasted. Tuka says: the mind must find its own cause and readiness within.
What it means
Tukaram is speaking about ripeness in the inner life. The fruit lets go when it is ripe, and the wind is only the occasion, not the cause; in the same way real release comes from within and cannot be forced. He calls this direct experience, the test that tells the genuine from the counterfeit. Pluck the fruit early and you waste it: push spiritual change before its time and nothing comes of it. The work is to let the mind ripen by its own inner cause, not to tear at it from outside.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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