Inner experience, the lamp within
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
निघालें दिवाळें । जालें देवाचें वाटोळें ॥1॥
आतां वेचूं नये वाणी । विचारावें मनिच्या मनीं ॥ध्रु.॥
गुंडािळलीं पोतीं । भीतरी लावियेली वाती ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे करा । ऐसा राहे माजी घरा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God's store has gone bankrupt; His cover is blown. Now there is no need to spend words; one should contemplate within the mind alone. The bundles have been wrapped up, and the wick has been lit from within. Says Tuka, do this, and He will remain inside the house.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God's shop has gone bankrupt. His cover is blown. Now there is no need to spend words. Think it over within the mind alone. The bundles have been wrapped up. The wick has been lit inside. Tuka says: do this, and he will stay inside the house.
What it means
Tukaram uses the language of a closing-down shop to describe a turn inward. God's outward trade is finished and his secret is out, so there is nothing left to argue about with words; the work now happens silently in the mind. The bundles are packed away and a wick is lit within, an image of attention drawn back from the outside and a light kindled in the heart. The promise is simple and intimate: do this inward work, and God will not depart but will remain dwelling in the house of the self.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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