Experience, the living cremation of the self
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाला प्रेतरूप शरीराचा भाव । लिक्षयेला ठाव श्मशानींचा ॥1॥
रडती रात्रदिवस कामक्रोधमाया । ह्मणती हायहाया यमधर्म ॥ध्रु.॥
वैराग्याच्या शेणी लागल्या शरीरा । ज्ञानािग्न भरभरां जीवित्वेसी ॥2॥
फिरविला घट फोडिला चरणीं । महावाक्य जनीं बोंब जाली ॥3॥
दिली तिळांजुळी कुळनामरूपांसी । शरीर ज्याचें त्यासी समपिनलें ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे रक्षा जाली आपींआप । उजळला दीप गुरुकृपा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The body has become like a corpse; its place is marked in the cremation ground. Desire, anger, and illusion weep day and night, crying 'Alas, alas' before the lord of death. The fuel cakes of dispassion are set upon the body, and the fire of knowledge blazes into life itself. The pot is turned around and broken at the feet; the great proclamation resounds in the world. The water-oblation of sesame seeds has been offered to name, clan, and form; the body is surrendered to whom it belongs. Says Tuka, the final rites have happened of their own accord; the lamp of the Guru's grace shines brightly.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
My body has become a corpse; its place in the cremation ground is already marked. Desire, anger, and illusion weep night and day, crying out before Yama, the lord of death. The dung-cakes of dispassion are laid on the body, and the fire of knowledge blazes up over my living self. The pot is carried round and broken at the feet; the great word resounds aloud among people. The sesame and water are offered to clan, name, and form; the body is handed back to the One it belongs to. Tuka says: the rites have completed themselves, and the lamp of the Guru's grace burns bright.
What it means
Tukaram tells of dying while still alive, staging his own funeral as the death of the false self. The mourners are not relatives but desire, anger, and illusion, who weep because their hold is ending. He carries the cremation ritual through image by image: dung-cakes of dispassion for fuel, the fire of spiritual knowledge, the funeral pot broken at the feet, the great Vedic utterance proclaimed, the offerings made over the old identity of clan, name, and form. The whole rite happens on its own, and what it leaves behind is not ash but light: the lamp of the Guru's grace, burning where the self once stood.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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