Experience, knowing God past words
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आहे ऐसा देव वदवावी वाणी । नाहीं ऐसा मनीं अनुभवावा ॥1॥
आवडी आवडी किळवराकिळवरी । वरिली अंतरी ताळी पडे ॥ध्रु.॥
अपूर्व दर्शन मातेपुत्रा भेटी । रडूं मागे तुटी हर्षयोगें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे एकें कळतें दुसरें । बरियानें बरें आहाचाचें आहाच ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
That God exists, let the tongue proclaim. That He does not exist, let the mind experience through direct realization. Wave upon wave of longing and the cry of devotion arise, and when the inner being is satisfied, realization dawns. The rare meeting of mother and child brings tears that follow the burst of joy. Says Tuka, one thing is understood, then another reveals itself. The good within the good is simply as it is.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
That God exists, let the tongue say it. That He is not a mere thing, let the mind taste in direct experience. Wave on wave of longing rises, love calling to love, and when the inner being is filled, the chord falls into place. Like the rare meeting of mother and child, the tears come after the burst of joy. Tuka says: one thing is understood, and then the next reveals itself. The real is truly real; the shallow stays shallow.
What it means
Tuka marks the line between saying God and tasting God. The tongue can declare that God exists, but the proof he wants is not a statement; it is direct realization in the mind, where what looked like nothing turns out to be everything. He describes how it comes: longing breaks over the heart in waves, love answering love, until the inner being is satisfied and everything tunes into harmony, like the overwhelming reunion of mother and child where the weeping follows the joy. Realization, he says, is progressive: grasp one thing and the next opens of itself. The closing line is a touchstone, what is genuinely real proves itself real, while the merely shallow shows up as shallow, so the only test is to taste it.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
More in this theme →