Realization, the self made small and vast
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अणुरणीयां थोकडा । तुका आकाशाएवढा ॥1॥
गिळुनि सांडिलें किळवर । भव भ्रमाचा आकार ॥ध्रु.॥
सांडिली त्रिपुटी । दीप उजळला घटीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां । उरलों उपकारापुरता ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Tuka is smaller than the smallest atom, yet as vast as the sky. Having swallowed it, I have cast away the whole form of worldly illusion and fear. The triputi has been cast away; the lamp blazes in the vessel. Says Tuka, now I remain only for the benefit of others.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Tuka is smaller than the smallest atom, and as wide as the sky. I have swallowed it and thrown it away: the whole shape of worldly delusion and fear. The triputi is gone. The lamp is burning inside the vessel. Tuka says: now I am left only to be of use to others.
What it means
Tukaram is reporting what is left of him after realization. He has lost the fixed size of a separate self: he is now both finer than an atom and as boundless as the sky, because he no longer ends where his body ends. The form of the world, with its delusion and its fear, has been swallowed and cast off, and the triputi, the split between knower, knowing, and known, is gone, so the lamp burns clear inside him. With nothing left to gain for himself, the one thing that remains is usefulness to others.
The Necessity of Experience
Why direct experience of God, not mere learning, is the only path.
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