संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 18 of 4582

Abhanga 18

Long love does not stay earnest. It moves into play — laughter, mock-anger, joking. The play is not a dilution; it is the longest-term form.

When earnest seeking has worked and you don't know what comes next — and you have to learn to play with what you've found

When a long relationship has stopped feeling earnest and you wonder if it's gone shallow — and you have to recognize it has actually deepened into play

When you find yourself joking with God / a beloved / a teacher in a way you couldn't earlier — and you have to learn that the joking IS the deeper love, not the lesser

The verse

हासों रुसों आतां वाढवूं आवडी । अंतरींची गोडी अवीट ते ॥१॥ सेवासुखें करूं विनोदवचन । आम्ही नारायण एकाएकीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे जालों उदासीन । आपुल्या आधीन केला पति ॥३॥

(Source: transliteral.org Sant Tukaram Gatha, abhang 18. Twelfth in 0007-0020+ gopī-arc.)

Literal translation

English: Now we will laugh and play-sulk to grow our love; the inner sweetness is unfailing. With the joy of service we will speak playful words — we and Narayana, all by ourselves. Tuka says: we have become independent; we have made the (former) husband subject to us.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आता हसून-रुसून आम्ही प्रेम वाढवू; आतली गोडी अवीट आहे. सेवेच्या आनंदाने विनोदाची भाषा बोलू — आम्ही नारायण, फक्त आम्ही दोघं. तुकाराम म्हणतात — आम्ही उदासीन झालो; पतीला आपल्या ताब्यात केलं.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
हासों रुसों आतां	"now we will laugh and pretend-to-be-cross" (हासणे = to laugh; रुसणे = to be playfully sulky / to pretend-anger)
वाढवूं आवडी	"we will increase love" (आवडी = love, fondness)
अंतरींची गोडी अवीट ते	"the inner sweetness — that is unfailing"
सेवासुखें करूं विनोदवचन	"with the joy of service we will speak playful words" (विनोद = humour, jest)
आम्ही नारायण एकाएकीं	"we and Narayana, just by ourselves"
जालों उदासीन	"we have become independent / unattached (in the sense of free from earlier compulsion)"
आपुल्या आधीन केला पति	"made the husband subordinate to ourselves" (आधीन = subordinate, under control)

What it means

After the non-dualist crescendo of 0017, the arc does not end. It moves into play. हासों रुसों — laugh and play-sulk — is the language of established intimate love, not new love. New love is earnest. Long love laughs, pretends to be cross, jokes. Tukaram is naming the post-merger phase in classical bhakti terms: this is the līlā (divine play) phase of devotion, where God and the bhakta have settled into each other and what continues is mutual playfulness. [T] [Tradition]

The line "आपुल्या आधीन केला पति" — we have made the (former) husband subject to us — needs careful reading. This is not arrogance. In bhakti's role-reversal tradition, the deepest love produces a deity who is bound to the devotee — Krishna who is led around by the gopīs, who is bested by Yashoda, who is "tied to the mortar" by his mother. The "subordination of the husband" here is the bhakta's recognition that the deity has voluntarily placed himself at her disposal. It is mutual; the deity has done this freely. [Tradition]

The verse "आम्ही नारायण एकाएकीं" — we and Narayana, just by ourselves — closes off the social world entirely. After the non-duality of 0017, the speaker and Narayana are the only two (paradoxically — they are also one). The play happens in this "two-of-us" privacy. [T]

For someone today

English: This abhang is for the long-love phase that comes after earnest seeking has succeeded. Most spiritual writing focuses on the seeking; very little focuses on what happens after finding. Tukaram is precise: long love does not stay earnest. It moves into play — laughter, pretend-anger, joking, in-jokes, playful sulking. If you have a relationship (with a person, a practice, a teacher, the divine) that has been going long enough that you can joke with it, you have arrived at this verse. The joking is not a sign that the love has gone shallow; it is the sign that it has deepened past the point where earnestness is the right mode.

The unexpected teaching is "अंतरींची गोडी अवीट ते" — the inner sweetness is unfailing. Play is possible because the underlying sweetness is no longer in question. New love must be earnest because new love is anxious about whether it is real; established love can play because the realness is no longer in doubt. The transition from earnest to playful is not a downgrade. It is a graduation.

मराठी: ही ओवी अशा दीर्घ-प्रेमाच्या टप्प्यासाठी आहे जो earnest शोध यशस्वी झाल्यावर येतो. बहुतेक आध्यात्मिक लेखन शोधावर लक्ष देतं; सापडल्यानंतर काय होतं यावर फार थोडं. तुकाराम स्पष्ट आहेत: दीर्घ प्रेम earnest राहत नाही. ते खेळात जातं — हसणं, खोटा रुसवा, चेष्टा, in-jokes, खेळकर रागावणं. तुम्हाला असं नातं असेल (व्यक्तीशी, साधनेशी, गुरूशी, देवाशी) जिच्याशी तुम्ही चेष्टा करू शकता — तुम्ही या ओवीवर आहात. चेष्टा हे प्रेम उथळ झाल्याचं चिन्ह नाही; ते earnestness योग्य मोड नसण्याइतकं खोल झाल्याचं चिन्ह आहे.

अनपेक्षित शिकवण आहे "अंतरींची गोडी अवीट ते" — आतली गोडी अवीट आहे. खेळ शक्य आहे कारण मूलभूत गोडी प्रश्नात नाही. नवं प्रेम earnest असावंच लागतं कारण नवं प्रेम चिंतेत असतं — हे खरं आहे का? स्थिर प्रेम खेळू शकतं कारण खरेपणावर शंका नाही. earnest कडून playful कडे जाणं हा downgrade नाही. तो graduation आहे.

Where this applies

When earnest seeking has worked and you don't know what comes next. The next phase is play. Tukaram is permission to stop being earnest once you've arrived.
When a long relationship has stopped feeling earnest and you wonder if it's gone shallow. Diagnostic: is the underlying sweetness unfailing? If yes, what you have is not shallowness. It is the post-earnest depth.
When you find yourself joking with God / a beloved / a teacher in a way you couldn't earlier. Trust it. विनोदवचन — playful speech — is a sign the relationship has deepened past the point where seriousness was the right register.