These words are God's, not mine
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नव्हती हीं माझीं जायाचीं भूषणें । असे नारायणें उचित केलें ॥1॥
शब्दाच्या वोवोनी रत्नाचिया माळा । मुळींच जिव्हाळा झरवणी ॥ध्रु.॥
अर्थांतरीं असे अनुभवसेवन । परिपाकीं मन साक्ष येथें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मज सरतें परतें । हें नाहीं अनंतें उरों दिलें ॥3॥
उपक्रमें वदे निशब्दाची वाणी । जे कोठें बंधनीं गुंपों नेणें ॥ध्रु.॥
तम नासी परि वेव्हारा वेगळा । रविप्रभाकळा वर्ते जन॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येथें गेला अतिशय । आतां पुन्हा नये तोंड दावूं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
These are not my ornaments nor my wife's finery. Narayana has bestowed them as He saw fit. Stringing words like garlands of gems, the original living warmth flows from the source. Within the layers of meaning lies the savor of direct experience; the ripened mind bears witness. Says Tuka, the Infinite One has not allowed anything to remain unsettled for me. The voice speaks of the unspeakable through its beginning; it knows no bondage anywhere. Darkness is destroyed, yet He stands apart from worldly transactions; the world moves by the sun's light. Says Tuka, here all excess has departed. Now the face should not show itself again.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
These ornaments are not mine, nor my wife's finery; Narayana has given them as he thought fit. The words strung like garlands of gems flow from the living warmth at the source. Inside their meaning is the taste of real experience; the ripened mind is the witness. Tuka says: the Infinite One has left nothing unsettled for me. The voice speaks the unspeakable from the start, and knows no bondage anywhere. Darkness is destroyed, yet he stands apart from the world's dealings, while people move by the sun's light. Tuka says: here every excess is gone. Now this face need not show itself again.
What it means
Tukaram disowns his own poems even as he speaks them. The verses, strung like jewelled garlands, are not his ornaments to be proud of; Narayana gave them, and the warmth that runs through them rises from the source, not from Tuka. He says the words carry the taste of direct experience, and his ripened mind is only the witness, not the author. With nothing left unsettled by the Infinite, the ego that would step forward to take credit has burned away; like the sun that destroys darkness yet stays apart from what it lights, God works through him without belonging to the transaction. The closing line, that this face need not appear again, is the disappearance of the self that wanted to be seen.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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