True worship, against dry knowledge
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आधारावांचुनी । काय सांगसी काहाणी ॥1॥
ठावा नाहीं पंढरीराव । तोंवरी अवघें चि वाव ॥ध्रु.॥
मानिताहे कोण । तुझें कोरडें ब्रह्मज्ञान ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ठेवा । जाणपण एक सवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Without a foundation, why tell stories? Until you know the Lord of Pandhari, everything is empty air. Who will accept your dry knowledge of Brahman? Says Tuka, set aside this one conceit of being a knower.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Without a foundation, why do you tell your story? Until you know the Lord of Pandhari, all of it is empty air. Who is going to accept your dry knowledge of Brahman? Tuka says: set aside this one conceit, the pride of being a knower.
What it means
Tukaram is challenging the person who talks about God without having met him. Knowledge that has no ground in the living Lord of Pandhari is just talk; until that knowing is real, every word is wind. He calls book-learned talk of Brahman dry, knowledge with no juice, no devotion, and asks who could be nourished by it. The thing to drop is not learning itself but the conceit that comes with it, the satisfaction of counting oneself a knower; that single pride is what hollows the whole effort out.
True Worship
What genuine worship looks like, beyond outward observances and images.
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