The author describes his childhood in a rural milieu. Like the author, rural masses internalize literature and literary tradition well before joining school as much through the entertaining performers of folk tradition as the tradition of certain rituals. Stories and legends from epics and folk imagination are narrated during religious rituals. Thus the object of literature in the tradition is not in applied aspect of literature. It forms very much part of life. it is an essential element of penances, chanting of verses in various forms. Even folk performances did not have entertainment as their objective, but was an essential part of the religious tradition.
Stotra, Aaratis etc. were used as spiritual protection against evil forces. So the real motive is protection and not a esthetics in the literary form.

Reality of Puran or myths : Reading of mythology forms a part of ritual in the mindset of the masses -   it is not a scholarly exercise. It is a virtual re-enactment of the events described in mythology.  For instance, just as the story of the warring cousins in the Mahabharata was scrupulously NOT read in a family in the belief that the family would  split, so too was a pause taken to commemorate Ram’s victory by distributing pieces of cocoanut during the reading of the Ramayana at the juncture when  Ravan is killed.  Myths possess a ‘realness’ in the minds of the masses because the collective psyche possesses the ready ability to imagine some past idealistic event or condition as real.. This imagined ‘reality’ is more eternal than the transient events in real life. Such nonchalance about real time events can serve as an explanation for the mythification of historical events. Hence the mythology and Puranas as well, can be used to find historical evidences.

Since religious literature is used or read mainly as protection against evil forces, the  prospective benefit that accrues to  listening to the book is usually mentioned in a separate section called the ‘falashruti’ (fala = fruit/benefit; shruti = to listen) .
These are enacted in real life. For example, the Mahabharat of Mukteshwar  says that chanting the word ‘astik’ guarantees  protection against serpents. Trusting this mythological imaginary ritual, people used to really chant the word to secure themselves from snakes.  Narrating a myth is nothing less than a re-actualization of  sacred times.

 The perspective of accepting belief as a relic of past reality can help in resolving some of the enigmatic phenomena in folk –myth literature.

‘Mahameru’ of the meaning of geeta.
Explanation of the metaphor of Mahameru is possible only if one searches for the traditional meanings of words. Mahameru is a type of dwelling. According to Indian tradition, a palace is classified into five types. The most elegant is the Mahameru. The Meru is also a summit of a mountain inhabited by deity. The word is believed to be a link between the earth and the heaven.

The commentary on the Geeta in the Dnyaneshwari is thus a link between heaven and earth and the expanse of the work is unparalleled.

The metaphor can be elaborated further by comparing the palace with the human body as a link between the earthly and heavenly elements in the universe. The spinal cord is also referred to as Meru, a fact that enhances the appropriateness of the metaphor.

The word ‘karmari’ from one of the verses
In one of the Abhangas of Tukaram, he uses a term ‘karavati karmari’, wishing to express extreme measures used for obtaining divine blessings. The body is subjected to ‘karvati’ and ‘karmari’. ‘Karvati’  is a  saw. But what was the meaning of ‘Karmari’?

 Traditional commentators explain it as a type of bodily penance.
A place known as ‘kanumari’ exists at the summit of Shri Shaila from where the devotee is expected to leap into the abyss to  end his life. In Telugu literature, the same word is used with the same connotation; thus Kanumari could be originally a Telugu word. During Sanskrit metamorphosis the word becomes ‘Karmahari’, possibly transforming in Marathi as ‘Karmari’. Thus the extreme penance expressed in Tukaram’s abhanga might mean to leap off a cliff and die.

Shukti and Moti, Shukti means the shell and Moti means a pearl. The usage arises out of similarity or resemblance between the shell and the female genital organ. Mukteshwar was accused of obscenity by some. In reality it was glorification of the process of conception. The shell is taken as an indication of vulva in many civilizations all over the world..