Experience, until sight meets sight
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
न ये नेत्रां जळ । नाहीं अंतरीं कळवळ ॥१॥
तों हे चावटीचे बोल । जन रंजवणें फोल ॥ध्रु.॥
न फळे उत्तर । नाहीं स्वामी जों सादर ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे भेटी । जंव नाहीं दृष्टादृष्टी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When tears do not come to the eyes and there is no deep churning of compassion within, then these are vulgar, cheap words, chaff thrown to amuse the crowd. Words bear no fruit so long as the Lord is not attentive. Says Tuka, there is no true meeting until sight meets sight.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
When no tears come to the eyes and no compassion churns inside, then all these are just vulgar, cheap words, chaff thrown out to amuse the crowd. Words bear no fruit as long as the Lord is not attentive to them. Tuka says: there is no true meeting until sight has actually met sight.
What it means
Tukaram tests devotional speech by what it does to the body and the heart. If the words bring no tears, no inner stirring of compassion, they are mere entertainment, husks tossed to please listeners. And no words bear fruit unless God himself is turned toward them. The closing standard is uncompromising: there is no real meeting with God until sight meets sight, until the encounter is direct and mutual. Eloquence about God is nothing; being seen by God, and undone by it, is everything.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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