Experience, hidden in plain sight
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बोलों अबोलणें मरोनियां जिणें । असोनि नसणें जनि आम्हां ॥१॥
भोगीं त्याग जाला संगीं च असंग । तोडियेले लाग माग दोन्ही ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे नव्हें दिसतों मी तैसा । पुसणें तें पुसा पांडुरंगा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
To speak is to be silent; to die is to truly live; to exist among people is to not exist at all. In the midst of enjoyment, renunciation has happened; in company itself, detachment has taken hold, and both pursuit and attachment are severed. Says Tuka, I am not what I appear to be; if you wish to know the truth, ask Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To speak is to keep silent; to die is to truly live; to live among people is not to exist at all. In the midst of enjoying, renunciation has happened; in company, I am uncompanioned. Both the trail ahead and the trail behind are cut. Tuka says: I am not what I look like. If you want to know, ask Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram describes the strange double life of one who is awake. His words are also silence; the death of his old self is his real life; he moves among people while no longer belonging to the world they live in. Even while he enjoys things, the grip of wanting has let go, and even in company he stays inwardly alone with God, with the trails of past and future both cut so nothing pulls him forward or back. He admits this cannot be read from the outside: he is not what he appears to be. So he hands the verdict to God himself, telling the listener to ask Panduranga what he truly is.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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