Experience, the ripened harvest
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अक्षरांचा श्रम केला । फळा आला तेणें तो ॥1॥
अवघियाचा तळ धरी । जीवा उरी नुरउनी ॥ध्रु.॥
फळलें तें लवे भारें । पीक खरें आलें तई ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा । पुढें भाव सारावा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The labor of learning has borne its fruit. It holds the very depths of all things, leaving no residue remaining in the soul. When the harvest bends low under its own weight, only then has the true crop truly come. Says Tuka, O God, let the devotion now move further forward still.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The labor over the letters has borne its fruit. It holds the bottom of everything, leaving nothing of the self left over. When the ripe grain bends low under its own weight, then the real crop has truly come in. Tuka says: O God, let the devotion move on further still.
What it means
Tukaram looks back on his long labor of learning and finds it has finally ripened into fruit. That fruit reaches to the depths of all things and leaves no separate self standing, the ego emptied out. He marks the sign of true ripeness with a farmer's image: the loaded ear of grain bows low, just as real attainment makes a person humble rather than proud. Even so, he does not stop at the harvest but prays to God that his devotion keep advancing further, treating arrival as one more starting point.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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