Bhakti over knowledge, no easy liberation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
करूनि राहों जरी आत्मा चि प्रमाण । निश्चळ नव्हे मन काय करूं ॥1॥
जेवलिया विण काशाचे ढेंकर । शब्दाचे प्रकार शब्द चि ते ॥ध्रु.॥
पुरे पुरे आतां तुमचें ब्रह्मज्ञान । आह्मासी चरण न सोडणें ॥2॥
विरोधें विरोध वाढे पुढतोपुढती । वासनेचे हातीं गर्भवास ॥3॥
सांडीमांडीअंगीं वसे पुण्यपाप । बंधन संकल्प या चि नांवें ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं मुक्तता मोकळी । ऐसा कोण बळी निरसी देह ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even if I resolve to make the Self my only truth, the mind will not stay still. What can I do? Without actually eating, what is the value of a belch? The ways of words remain merely words. Enough, enough of your Brahma-knowledge. We will not let go of His feet. Conflict only breeds more conflict, endlessly. The womb of rebirth lies in the hands of lingering desire. Merit and demerit cling to the body; bondage is the very name of mental resolve. Says Tuka, there is no such thing as easy, outright liberation. Who is powerful enough to truly transcend the body?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even if I resolve to make the Self alone my truth, the mind will not hold still. What can I do? Without eating, what is a belch worth? Words about words are only words. Enough, enough now of your Brahma-knowledge. We will not let go of His feet. Conflict only breeds more conflict, on and on. Rebirth in the womb lies in the hands of lingering desire. Merit and demerit cling to the body; mental resolve itself is the very name of bondage. Tuka says: there is no easy, ready-made liberation. Who is strong enough to truly be done with the body?
What it means
Tukaram refuses dry knowledge in favor of holding fast to God's feet. He grants that one may declare the Self the only reality, but the mind still will not settle, and he mocks talk without realization: a belch without a meal, words that are only more words. So he pushes the abstract Brahma-knowledge aside and clings to Vitthal instead. Then he names the trap honestly. Argument breeds more argument, desire keeps pulling the soul back into the womb, merit and demerit both stick to the body, and even the mind's resolve is itself a form of bondage. The stakes are sobering: liberation is not a cheap trick of thought, and almost no one is strong enough to be truly free of the body on their own. The unspoken conclusion is that only surrender to God's feet remains.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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