Lived experience over hollow words
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नका दंतकथा येथें सांगों कोणी । कोरडे ते मानी बोल कोण ॥1॥
अनुभव येथें व्हावा शिष्टाचार । न चलती चार आह्मांपुढें ॥ध्रु.॥
निवडी वेगळें क्षीर आणि पाणी । राजहंस दोन्ही वेगळालीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे येथें पाहिजे जातीचें । येरा गाबाळाचें काय काम॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let no one come here telling stale stories. Who values dry and hollow words? What is needed here is lived experience and right conduct; mere cleverness does not pass muster before us. The royal swan separates milk from water, telling the two apart. Says Tuka, only those of true substance are welcome here; what use is mere chaff?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let no one come here telling old hand-me-down tales. Who values dry words? What is asked here is experience and right conduct. Clever talk does not pass before us. The royal swan picks them apart, the milk and the water. It keeps the two separate. Tuka says: here you must be of the true breed. What use is the rest, the worthless chaff?
What it means
Tukaram sets a hard door at the entrance to the spiritual life. Borrowed stories and dry, hollow words count for nothing here; what is demanded is anubhava, what you have actually lived, joined to right conduct. Mere cleverness does not pass the test. He uses the old image of the royal swan that can separate milk from water, the genuine from the diluted. Only those of the true breed belong in this company; the rest is chaff. The sharpness is aimed at the pretense of secondhand wisdom, and so at one's own temptation to talk instead of live it.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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