tukaram 09-11-15

8/19/2019 tukaram 09-11-15

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We can’t begin to imagine that how much spiritual wealth Indian subcontinent has

brought to this world over the centuries. Only in state of Maharashtra in India alone

there were at least 50 saints over a period of four centuries – between the

thirteenth and the seventeenth centuries. ll of them taught the same spiritual

truth! the practice of see"ing self#reali$ation and %od#reali$ation through meditation

and devotion to a %uru.

&u"aram' a peasant farmer' was one of those saints – widely regarded as the

greatest of them all in terms of popular esteem.

(e was born in )*5+ at a place called ,eha near -une city to a couple called

olhoba and /an"ai. (is father was a village headman' who owned uite a large

piece of farmland and a shop' and supported his family by selling his farm produce.

s a farmer and grain seller he was classed as lowborn in the hierarchical ladder of

caste system. ut he was a deeply religious man highly respected in society' and &u"aram grew up in an atmosphere of devotion.

1ife went on smoothly until &u"aram was 2)' when the world started falling apart.

&he reason for this was a disastrous famine' in which he and his family lost

everything. 3ery soon both his parents were dead' and his wife and son also died of

starvation. s he became destitute' friends and relatives turned their bac"s on him

and his creditors started tormenting him. In addition' it seems that relationship with

his second wife wasn’t e4actly a happy one. (e felt despised by all' without any

support anywhere. In short' life became a misery' resulting in his becoming

completely disillusioned with the whole world.

(e himself described some of the trauma he was going through!

I am harassed to the e4tremes from all sides –

Whose shelter should I see" now

I cannot bear to "now any more of worldly life6

7o one belongs to me.

ut in reality what was happening there &u"aram was being stripped of every

single worldly attachment and of all worldly hopes and aspirations. (e was being

shown' in the most relentless manner possible' that the 8oys and comforts of world

can mean nothing – at any time they can be snatched from us. (e came to reali$e

that the only lasting happiness lay in see"ing and discovering the love of %od. nd

8/19/2019 tukaram 09-11-15


this brought a complete transformation in him. ut what a price he had to pay for

this revolutionary transformation9

-erhaps' even in our own lives' if we loo" bac" on our dar"est times' in retrospect

we see that we’ve grown from our su:erings. It turned us inward and made us drawour resources that would otherwise have remained hidden. In &u"aram’s case

something very positive came out of despair and disillusionment! he started loo"ing

for real meaning of life' a search that would turn him towards devotion to %od.

With the complete turnaround in his life' &u"aram started to study holy boo"s and

teachings of earlier saints such as 7amdev' ,nyaneshwar and /abir. Whenever

possible he sat in the company of holy man ;<atsang=. (e came to recogni$e that

meditation is the "ey to %od#reali$ation and sat for hours in solitude in the hills and

8ungles near his home. (is most fervent prayer was that the 1ord should show him

where to a >nd a %uru ;-erfect Master=. 7ot long after these troubles he receivedinitiation from a mystic called aba8i ?aghavachaitnya' and from then he spent

most of his time in spiritual practice. (e was then in early twenties.

It’s clear from his writings though that his path to spiritual ful>lment was far from

easy' and that he faced the same struggles as we do. In one of his poem' he writes!

What shall I do with this mind

It has no wish to give up sensual pleasures'O 1ord' only you can come to my rescue –

I do not thin" anyone else can control it.

nd li"e all of us' he uestioned whether he would ever reach the goal!

My meditation is so wea" that I am worried

Whether you will ma"e me your own6Whether I will get your vision ;,arshan='

Whether you will tal" to me and remember me.

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@or some years his desperate searching and pleading went on' with no apparent

response from the 1ord. (e often went without food for days on while he sat

meditating in some 8ungle retreat.

nd as this all#consuming struggle continued' he complained in one of his poems!

Why don’t you ta"e pity on me' my 1ord'

&hough you dwell right in my heart

O heartless %od' devoid of all goodness'

I am crying my throat hoarse.

Why does my mind not obtain peace

Why do my senses still bother me

Why are you still angry with me' as"s &u"a'

re my sins not yet destroyed

<o li"e all see"ers' &u"aram had to labor hard to become perfect. nd for us

struggling souls' there’s is something very important and uite encouraging to be

learnt here that the awareness of our own failings and our feelings of helplessness

to control the senses or chec" the mind can prove to be positive – because in

themselves they will lead us to surrender to our %uru.

In one of his poems &u"aram lists what he says are his own failings' all of which

cause him great distress. ut then he concludes!

ll these wea"nesses have led me to surrender to you.

I have no more worries now' says &u"a'

<ince I have no need of past merits

nd I have become your mar"ed servant.

If we are our %uru’s mar"ed servants' our wea"nesses themselves will eventually

ma"e us to surrender to him. nd then' at long last' the greatest part of our struggle

will be over.

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@or &u"aram' too' it had to come' after so much agoni$ed spiritual yearning' his

prayers were answered and he received enlightenment. nd his 8oy was

indescribable!

&he supreme state of bliss soars up and around me

1i"e a canopy' a great shield

&he heavens are thundering with the reverberating <ound divine.

&u"a’s 1ord has installed him in (is own <elf.

ut even though he’d attained everything he ever wanted' even after %od#

reali$ation. &u"aram’s earthly troubles were far from over. (is home life was far

from happy. nd then' even as he became revered as a great spiritual teacher' he

ran into trouble with the priestly class.

&he trouble was that &u"aram' li"e many others of the saints of Maharastra' gave

out his teachings not in <ans"rit but in the local language' Marathi – which made

him very much one of the people. nd he was a proli>c writer. 7early >ve thousand

of his poems still survive today. ut this didn’t endear him to the rahmin priests'

who believed that it was their special privilege to worship %od and teach others

about (im. &heir attitude was that the scriptures were strictly out of bounds for a

low#caste man li"e &u"aram.

nd as his reputation and popularity soared' orthodo4 (indus were enraged that

someone of his humble stature should have such wide appeal.

On the whole &u"aram was pretty badly treated by people who resented him. One

religious leader beat him with thorny stic"s' and the angry wife of one of his disciple

poured boiling water on him.

&he >rst thing that stri"es us about the poetry of &u"aram is its utter simplicity. (e

tal"s to ordinary people li"e us in the most down#to#earth' ordinary language. Avenin translation the language of these poems has been "ept absolutely simple. nd

they remain as fresh and relevant as they must have been when they were >rst

written.

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(e brings the teachings down to a level that’s uncomplicated and direct! live a

virtuous life' don’t envy others and theirs’ wealth' spea" the truth' repeat the 1ord’s

7ameBwhat more do we need to "now &his poetry is completely relevant to us.

nd how much more of an impact it must have had then when he was deliveringthese simple and powerful teachings himself. 7o wonder the priests hated him9 (ow

much simpler can the teaching be than this

If you thin" of other woman as your mother

Will you lose any treasure

If you do not slander others or desire their wealth'

Will you lose anything

If wherever you are sitting you repeat the 1ord’s 7ame'

Will you need to toil hard for it

Why not believe what saints say

&ell me what you will lose9

What e:ort is needed to spea" the truth –

,o you lose anything by it

,o only these things' says &u"a.

7o other e:orts are needed to attach yourself to %od.

1ive a simple honest life of service and devotion – this was what &u"aram taught his

followers. ll the trimmings of conventional religion' all intellectual study' rituals

and yoga e4ercises would get them nowhere.

Only love and devotion would open the inner doors for them. We read in one of his

poems!

O lord' your form is beyond thought and speech –

,evotion is the only means I have of "nowing you.

I weigh you in the scales of love' O in>nite one –

&here is no other means to grasp your true state.

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nd another of his great themes! the diCcult lessons &u"aram had to learn through

his personal su:erings – detachment' the detachment from absolutely everything in

this world that allowed him to rise up beyond it.

(e tells us this in one of the loveliest poems!

I spea" the unspo"en language' I have died to live.

&hough living among people I am' in truth' not with them.

I appear to en8oy the things of the world'

Det my mind is not in it.

I am in the world but not of it –

I have bro"en free of all attachments and desires.

I am not what I appear to be' says &u"a.

Dou may as" the 1ord about my real condition.

&u"aram’s real condition must have been something so wondrous that we can’t

begin to understand it. Only saints can understand. ut it wasn’t handed to him on

a plate. (e wor"ed for it. nd he su:ered for it. &here are these lines in one of his

poems!

ecause of the death of my ego the 1ord has ta"en residence in me

nd the unuenchable Eame shines there.

ut' says &u"a' do not thin" that all this has ta"en place in one stro"e.

&u"aram’s struggle was titanic. &he price he paid for %od#reali$ation was huge.

It is a principle of economics that the value of anything depends on what people are

willing to pay for it. t a relatively young age &u"aram understood the value of what

he was see"ing and was prepared to sacri>ce absolutely everything for it.

With all his tribulations and hardships' &u"aram’s life was relatively short – he was

8ust 52 when he died. &hat was in the mid#seventeenth century' in about )F50. &hat

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would have been around the time when' on the other side of world' ?embrandt was

painting the last of his magni>cent canvases' and <ha"espeare had 8ust died after

writing the last of his marvelous plays. nd how little did the rest of the world "now

then of this simple' humble man in that western state of India who had produced

such a vast spiritual treasure.

tukaram 09-11-15

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