Experience, the singer at your gate
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बोल बोले अबोलणे । जागें बाहेर आंत निजेलें । कैसें घरांत घरकुल केलें । नेणों आंधार ना उजेडलें गा ॥१॥
वासुदेव करितों फेरा । वाडियांत बाहेर दारा । कोणी कांहीं तरी दान करा । जाब नेदा तरी जातों सामोरा गा ॥ध्रु.॥
हातीं टाळ दिंडी मुखीं गाणें । गजर होतो बहु मोठ्यानें । नाहीं निवडिलीं थोरलाहानें । नका निजों भिकेच्या भेणें गा ॥२॥
मी वासुदेव तत्वता । कळों येईल विचारितां । आहे ठाउका सभाग्या संतां । नाहीं दुजा आणीक मागता गा ॥३॥
काय जागाचि निजलासी । सुनें जागोन दारापासीं । तुझ्या हितापाठीं करी व्यास व्यासी । भेटी न घेसी वासुदेवासी गा ॥४॥
ऐसें जागविलें अवघें जन । होतें संचित तींहीं केलें दान । तुका म्हणे दुबळीं कोणकोण । गेलीं वासुदेवा विसरून गा ॥५॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He speaks the speech that is silence; he is awake outside yet asleep within. How he has built a nest inside the house, where one cannot tell darkness from light. I, Vasudeva, make my rounds at your gate and in your courtyard. Give me something; if you give no answer, I will come and stand before you. With cymbals in hand and a song on my lips, the chant thunders loud. I have not sorted out the great from the small; do not hide in sleep for fear of giving alms. I am Vasudeva in truth; reflect on it and the meaning will become clear. I am known to the blessed saints, and there is no other beggar like me. Says Tuka, those who had past merit gave their gifts, but the wretched ones went on forgetting Vasudeva.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He speaks the speech that is silence. He is awake outside and asleep within. See how he has made a little house inside the house, where one cannot tell the dark from the light. I, Vasudeva, make my round, through the courtyard and at the outer door. Someone, anyone, give a gift. If you give no answer, I come and stand before you. Cymbals in hand, the dindi going, a song on my lips, the chant rings out loud. I have not sorted the great from the small. Do not hide in sleep for fear of giving alms. I am Vasudeva in truth; reflect on it and the meaning will grow clear. The blessed saints know me. There is no other beggar like me. Why do you lie there asleep, awake by your own empty door like a dog? For your own good, Vyasa makes the work; yet you take no meeting with Vasudeva. So he woke all the people. Those who had merit gave their gift. Tuka says: but the poor wretches, one and another, went on forgetting Vasudeva.
What it means
The poem speaks in the voice of the Vasudeva-singer, the wandering minstrel who is also a figure for God moving among people. The opening riddles, speech that is silence, awake outside and asleep within, a house inside the house, point to the hidden divine presence that the ordinary eye cannot read. The singer comes to every gate without sorting great from small, asking for a gift and refusing to be ignored: if you give no answer he stands before you. The sharp line, 'why do you lie asleep, awake by your own empty door like a dog,' aims at the pattern of staying spiritually drowsy while help is literally at the door. Tukaram closes by dividing people not by wealth but by response: those with merit gave, while the truly impoverished are those who keep forgetting Vasudeva.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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