The witness of lived experience
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अनुभवें आलें अंगा । तें या जगा देतसें ॥1॥
नव्हती हाततुके बोल । मूळ ओल अंतरिंची ॥ध्रु.॥
उतरूनि दिलें कशीं । शुद्धरसीं सरे तें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दुसरें नाहीं । ऐसी ग्वाही गुजरली ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What has come through direct experience, that I offer to the world. These are not secondhand words; they spring from the living sap within. What has been distilled with effort can only be rightly tested by the pure of taste. Says Tuka, there is nothing else to add; this is the witness my life has given.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What has come to me through direct experience, that I give to the world. These are not borrowed words; their root is the living moisture within. What has been distilled with effort can only be rightly tested by those of pure taste. Tuka says: there is nothing else to add; this is the witness my life has given.
What it means
Tukaram is staking everything on the source of his words. He offers the world only what has passed through his own experience, not phrases picked up secondhand; he says their root is the wet, living sap of the inner heart, not dry repetition. He admits that what he has distilled can only be judged by those who themselves have a pure palate for it. The poem ends as a sworn statement: there is nothing more to add, because his own life is the witness standing behind every word.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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