Experience, the mind held in the song
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गावे ह्मणउनि गीत । धरुनि राहे तैसें चित्त ॥1॥
हें चि थोर अवघड आहे । अन्न देखोनि भूक राहे ॥ध्रु.॥
ऐकावी ह्मूण कथा । राहे तैसें धरुनि चित्ता ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे धणी । नव्हे जेविल्यावांचुनि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One wishes to sing a song; the chitta too must remain absorbed in it just so. This alone is the truly difficult thing: that seeing food, the hunger should remain. One wishes to hear the sacred story; the chitta must be held in it just so. Says Tuka, satisfaction does not come without eating.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One wishes to sing a song; the heart too must stay held in it just so. This is the truly hard thing: that you see the food and yet the hunger stays. One wishes to hear the sacred story; the heart must be held in it just so. Tuka says: there is no being full without actually eating.
What it means
Tukaram points to the gap between outward practice and inward absorption. To really sing, the mind must rest in the song, not merely the lips; to really hear the holy story, the heart must stay inside it. He names the strange difficulty with a homely image: it is like seeing food set before you while the hunger refuses to go, the going through the motions without being fed. The closing line lands it plainly: you are not satisfied until you actually eat. Devotion only nourishes when the heart truly partakes, not when the form is merely performed.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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