Beyond words and ritual, bliss in dissolving the body
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नाहीं शब्दाधीन वर्म आहे दुरी । नव्हे तंत्रीं मंत्रीं अनुभव तो ॥1॥
हर्षामषॉ अंगीं आदळती लाटा । कामक्रोधें तटा सांडियेलें ॥ध्रु.॥
न सरे ते भक्ति विठोबाचे पायीं । उपरति नाहीं जेथें चित्ता ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे सुख देहनिरसनें । चिंतनें चिंतन तद्रूपता ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The secret is not subject to words; it lies far beyond. True experience cannot be gained through mantras or tantras. Waves of joy and ecstasy crash against the body; the shores of lust and anger have been abandoned. That devotion at Vitthoba's feet never runs dry, for there the mind finds no restlessness. Says Tuka, the bliss lies in dissolving the sense of the body; through contemplation upon contemplation, one becomes That.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The secret is not under the rule of words; it lies far off. That experience does not come by tantra or mantra. Waves of joy and rapture break over the body. The shores of lust and anger have been left behind. That devotion at Vithoba's feet never runs dry, and there the mind finds no restlessness. Tuka says: the bliss is in dissolving the sense of the body. By contemplation upon contemplation, one becomes That.
What it means
Tukaram insists the highest truth cannot be reached through language or technique; mantras and tantras do not deliver it. What he knows instead is direct: waves of joy break over him, and the old pulls of lust and anger have been left on the far bank. Devotion at Vithoba's feet is the inexhaustible spring where the mind stops being restless. He locates the bliss precisely in letting the sense of being a body dissolve, and says that sustained, repeated contemplation is how one finally becomes That rather than merely thinking about it.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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