Experience, tested by fire
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं सरों येत कोरडएा उत्तरीं । जिव्हाळ्याची बरी ओल ठायीं ॥1॥
आपुलिया हिता मानिसी कारण । सत्या नारायण साहे असो ॥ध्रु.॥
निर्वाणीं निवाड होतो आगीमुखें । तप्त लोह सुखें धरितां हातीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नेम न टळतां बरें । खयासी चि खरें ऐसें नांव ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Dry words alone will not do. There must be the moisture of genuine genuine experience. If you truly care about your own welfare, then let Narayana bear witness to the truth. In the final reckoning, the test comes through fire. No one holds heated iron in their hands with pleasure. Says Tuka, it is well when a vow is kept unbroken. Only what is truly genuine earns the name of real.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Dry words alone will not carry you; the tongue must be moist with real experience. If you truly care about your own good, let Narayana stand as witness to the truth. At the end the verdict comes through fire. No one holds red-hot iron in the hand for pleasure. Tuka says: it is well when a vow stays unbroken; only what is truly genuine earns the name of real.
What it means
Tukaram insists that talk is not enough; words go dry unless they are wet with lived experience. If a person genuinely wants their own welfare, they will let Narayana, the truth itself, be the witness of how they live. He names the cost with the image of an ordeal by fire: no one grips heated iron for fun, and the final reckoning tests a person that severely. What survives the test is a vow kept whole. Only that which is actually real, and not merely spoken, deserves to be called real.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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