Exhortation, no liberation without a Guru
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सद्गूवांचूनि प्रेतरूप वाणी । बोलती पुराणीं व्यासॠषि॥1॥
ह्मणोनि तयाचें पाहूं नये तोंड । निगुरा अखंड सुतकाळा ॥ध्रु.॥
कोणे परी तया नव्हे चि सुटका । देह त्याचा लटिका जाणा तुह्मी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसीं बोलती पुराणें । संतांचीं वचनें मागिलां हो ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Without the Sadguru, all speech is like a corpse; so say the sage Vyasa and the Puranas. Therefore, do not even look upon the face of one without a Guru; such a person is forever in a state of impurity. By no means can such a one find liberation. Know that his body is illusory. Says Tuka, this is what the Puranas declare; these are the words of the saints of old.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Without the Sadguru, speech is a corpse; so the sage Vyasa and the Puranas say. Therefore do not even look at the face of one who has no Guru; such a person is unbroken impurity. By no means is there any release for him. Know this: his body is a false thing. Tuka says: this is what the Puranas declare; these are the words of the saints of old.
What it means
Tukaram presses how indispensable a true teacher is by setting the highest authorities behind the claim: the sage Vyasa and the Puranas. Speech without the guidance of a Sadguru, he says, is dead matter, a corpse. He then states the warning in its sharpest form, that the guru-less life is mere defilement and cannot reach liberation, and that such a body is hollow and unreal. The harshness is aimed at the condition, the state of having no living guidance, not at scorn for the person; the cure named throughout is simply to take a true Guru. He grounds it all in the Puranas and the saints of old, claiming nothing as his own opinion.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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