Silence over ritual, only the true meeting counts
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाठवणें पडणें पायां । उद्धार वांयां काशाचा ॥1॥
घडलें तें भेटीसवें । दिसेल बरवें सकळां ॥ध्रु.॥
न घडतां दृष्टादृष्टी। काय गोष्टी कोरडएा ॥2॥
अबोल्यानें असे तुका । अंतर ऐका साक्षीतें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Sending messages and falling at feet: what liberation comes of it? All of it is wasted. What truly happens, happens in the meeting itself. Only that will look right to everyone. Without seeing each other face to face, all talk is dry and hollow. Says Tuka, I remain in silence. Hear the witness within.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Sending messages, falling at the feet: what rescue ever comes of it? All of it is wasted. What truly happens, happens in the meeting itself; only that will look right to everyone. Without seeing each other face to face, all the talk is dry and hollow. Tuka says: I stay in my silence. Hear the witness within.
What it means
Tukaram dismisses the outward motions of devotion, the messages sent and the prostrations made, as getting no one anywhere on their own. What matters is the real meeting, the direct seeing of God face to face; without that, every word is dry. So he chooses silence over more empty talk and gestures. He appeals instead to the inner witness, the one who sees the heart directly, since that is the only audience before whom his case is honestly settled.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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