Experience, the profit that cannot be lost
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लाभ खरा नये तुटी । नाहीं आडखळा भेटी ॥1॥
जाय अवघिया देशा । येथें संचलाची तैसा ॥ध्रु.॥
मग न लगे पारखी। अवघीं सकट सारखीं । तुका ह्मणे वोळे । रूपें भुलविले डोळे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
True profit cannot be lost. There is no obstacle to this meeting. It travels to every land, yet remains exactly as it is. Then no appraiser is needed; all vessels measure the same. Says Tuka, His forms enchant the eyes.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The true profit cannot be lost. There is no obstacle to this meeting. It goes to every land, and here it stays just as it is. Then no appraiser is needed; every vessel measures the same. Tuka says: it overflows. His forms have charmed my eyes.
What it means
Tukaram is speaking from experience about a gain unlike any worldly one. Ordinary profit can be lost, blocked, or weighed differently by each appraiser; this profit cannot be lost, faces no obstacle to the meeting, and remains the same wherever it goes. Because it is one and full everywhere, no expert is needed to assay it and every measure comes out equal. The poem ends in wonder rather than argument: it overflows, and God's forms have so charmed the eyes that the seeker no longer counts the gain at all.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
More in this theme →