Liberation, the pot shatters
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चक्रफेरीं गळीं गळा । होता गोवियेला माळा ॥1॥
फुटोनियां गेला कुंभ । जालों निष्काम स्वयंभ ॥ध्रु.॥
धरित चि नाहीं थारा । वेठी भ्रमण खोंकरा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कौतुक कोडें । आगी काय जाणे मढें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
On the spinning wheel of existence, neck was entangled with neck in a garland of chains. Then the pot shattered, and I became desireless, self-born and free. I had never found a resting place, always wandering and exhausted. Says Tuka, what does a corpse know of wonder? What does fire mean to the dead?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
On the spinning wheel, neck was looped to neck in a chain of garlands. Then the pot broke, and I became free of desire, self-born and whole. I had never found a place to rest, dragged round and round and worn out. Tuka says: it is a strange wonder. What does a corpse know of fire?
What it means
Tukaram pictures bound existence as a turning wheel where every neck is yoked to the next, all bodies chained together in endless circling. The breakthrough comes when the pot shatters: the false vessel of the separate self breaks, and what is left is desireless and self-existent. Before that he found no resting place anywhere, only ceaseless, exhausting motion. The closing image is sharp: once the self has died to its old craving, the old fires of the world cannot touch it, for fire means nothing to a corpse.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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