Experience, ground first then the harvest
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अनुभवाचे रस देऊं आर्त्तभूतां । सोडूं चोजवितां पुढें पोतीं ॥1॥
आधीं भाव सार शुद्ध ते भूमिका । बीज आणि पिका चिंता नाहीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ज्याचें नाम गुणवंत । तें नाहीं लागत पसरावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I will give the nectar of experience to those in need, opening the storehouse before them. First the foundation of pure devotion must be laid; after that, there is no worry about seeds or harvest. Says Tuka, one whose name is itself virtuous has no need to advertise it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I will give the juice of experience to those in need, opening the storehouse before them. First the ground must be laid, pure devotion as the foundation; after that there is no worry about seed or harvest. Tuka says: a name that is virtuous in itself has no need to be advertised.
What it means
Tukaram offers to share not doctrine but the actual juice of experience, and he describes himself opening a storehouse to the needy. He sets the order plainly: lay the ground first, which is pure devotion, and then the seed and the crop take care of themselves, so the work is in preparing the heart, not in chasing results. The final line carries his characteristic refusal of show: what is genuinely good announces itself and does not need to be cried in the market, whether that is the Lord's name or the worth of true experience.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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