Spiritual experience, only the desireless see Rama
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लय लक्षूनियां जालों ह्मणती देव । तो ही नव्हे भाव सत्य जाणा ॥1॥
जालों बहुश्रुत न लगे आतां कांहीं । नको राहूं ते ही नििश्चतीनें ॥ध्रु.॥
तपें दान काय मानिसी विश्वास । बीज फळ त्यास आहे पुढें ॥2॥
कर्म आचरण यातीचा स्वगुण । विशेष तो गुण काय तेथें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे जरी होईल निष्काम । तरि च होय राम देखे डोळां ॥4॥ ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who attained absorption and were called divine, know that even this is not the ultimate truth. Those who became greatly learned and say they need nothing more should not rest in that certainty either. If you place your faith in austerities and charity, know that their fruit still lies ahead. The conduct and qualities that come with one's birth, what is truly special in those? Says Tuka, only if one becomes truly desireless will Rama appear before the eyes.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those who fixed on absorption and were called gods: know truly, that is not yet the real state. Those who became greatly learned and say they need nothing more should not rest in that certainty either. Do you put your trust in austerities and charity? Their fruit still lies ahead. Conduct, observance, the qualities that come with your birth: what is so special there? Tuka says: only when one becomes free of desire does Rama at last appear before the eyes.
What it means
Tukaram tests one resting place after another and finds each one short of the goal. Deep meditative absorption, praised as divine, is still not the final truth; wide learning is no place to settle in confidence. Austerities and charity are not nothing, but their reward is still future fruit, not the seeing itself. Even pious conduct and the virtues handed to you by birth carry no special claim. The one condition he keeps for last is the deepest: only the heart truly emptied of desire actually sees Rama. The vision waits not on achievement but on letting go of wanting.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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