Experience, the reckoning is settled
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पडिलिया ताळा । मग अवघा चि निर्वाळा । तेथें कोणी बळा । नाहीं येत कोणासी ॥1॥
जोडिलें तें लागें हातीं । आपआपली नििंश्चती । हर्ष आणि खंती । तेथें दोनी नासलीं ॥ध्रु.॥
सहज सरलिया कारणें । मग एकला आपण । दिसे तरी भिन्न । वचनाचा प्रसंग ॥2॥
करूनि झाडा पाडा । तुका वेगळा लिगाडा। नििंश्चतीच्या गोडा । गोष्टी ह्मुण लागती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When the balance is struck, everything becomes clear, and no one can overpower another there. Whatever was earned comes to hand, and each finds their own certainty. Both joy and sorrow are destroyed in that place. When the task is naturally completed, one stands alone. Says Tuka, having cleared all entanglements, he rests apart, and the sweet words of certainty begin to flow.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When the account is balanced, everything becomes clear. There no one can overpower anyone. What was earned comes to your hand. Each one finds his own certainty. There both joy and sorrow are undone. When the work is naturally finished, you stand alone. You may look separate, but that is only how speech happens to put it. Clear the ledger; settle the score. Tuka says: he stands apart from the tangle, and the sweet words of certainty begin to flow.
What it means
Tukaram describes the moment the inner account is finally settled, using the picture of a balance struck and a ledger cleared. When the reckoning is done, everything is plain and no one can press a claim on anyone; each person comes into his own settled certainty. In that place both joy and sorrow dissolve, because there is nothing left to win or lose. He stands alone and apparently separate, though he notes that the separateness is only a turn of speech; freed from all entanglement, the calm words of certainty begin to flow on their own.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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