Abhanga 37
English: This abhang is for the moment when you find that the philosophical question — is reality one or many, is the divine personal or impersonal, is consciousness universal or individual — has been eating your attention without delivering insight. Tukaram's claim is simple: when you can actually see (Vitthal) everywhere, the question stops being interesting. The footprints are everywhere; the debating about whether the footprints are really one set or many sets is what philosophers do when they cannot see. The seeing is the move; the debate is the substitute.
The verse
पावलें पावलें तुझें आम्हां सर्व । दुजा नको भाव होऊं देऊं ॥१॥ जेथें तेथें तुझीं च पाउलें । त्रिभुवन संचलें विठ्ठला गा ॥ध्रु.॥ भेदाभेदमतें भ्रमाचे संवाद । आम्हां नको वाद त्यांशीं देऊं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे अणु तुजविण नाहीं । नभाहूनि पाहीं वाढ आहे ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Your footprints have come to us, everywhere; let no second feeling arise. Wherever (we look), it is your footprints — the three worlds are filled with you, O Vitthala. The views of duality-vs-non-duality — those are conversations of confusion; let us not enter into debate with them. Tuka says: there is not an atom without you; your growth, see, is larger than the sky.
मराठी: तुझी पाऊलं आम्हाला सर्वत्र पावली; दुसरा भाव होऊ देऊ नकोस. जिथे जिथे (पाहू) तिथे तुझीच पाऊलं — विठ्ठला, तीनही भुवनं तुझ्याने भरली आहेत. भेद-अभेद ही मतं — हे भ्रमाचे संवाद; आम्हाला त्यांच्याशी वाद नको. तुकाराम म्हणतात — एक अणूही तुझ्याशिवाय नाही; आकाशाहून तुझा विस्तार आहे, पाहा.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पावलें पावलें तुझें आम्हां सर्व | "your footsteps — all (everywhere) for us" |
| दुजा नको भाव होऊं देऊं | "do not let the second feeling arise" (दुजा = the other; the duality-perception) |
| जेथें तेथें तुझीं च पाउलें | "wherever (we look), it is your footprints" |
| त्रिभुवन संचलें विठ्ठला गा | "all three worlds are filled (with you), O Vitthala" |
| भेदाभेदमतें भ्रमाचे संवाद | "the views of bheda (dualism) and abheda (non-dualism) — those are conversations of confusion (भ्रम)" |
| आम्हां नको वाद त्यांशीं देऊं | "let us not debate with them" |
| अणु तुजविण नाहीं | "there is not (even) an atom without you" |
| नभाहूनि पाहीं वाढ आहे | "(your) growth is greater than the sky — see for yourself" |
What it means
The abhang's structure is precise: verses 1-2 declare omnipresence (footprints everywhere, three worlds filled); verse 2 (numbered) refuses the bheda-abheda debate, naming both views as bhrama (confusion); verse 3 closes with the maximum claim — not an atom without you; greater than the sky. [T]
The refusal in verse 2 is theologically interesting: Tukaram is not picking a side (advaita over dvaita or vice versa). He is saying both views, when held as positions to be debated, are bhrama — confusions that block the seeing. The seeing dissolves the question; the question, once it is alive, blocks the seeing. So the work is not winning the debate but stepping out of it. [T] [Tradition]
For someone today
English: This abhang is for the moment when you find that the philosophical question — is reality one or many, is the divine personal or impersonal, is consciousness universal or individual — has been eating your attention without delivering insight. Tukaram's claim is simple: when you can actually see (Vitthal) everywhere, the question stops being interesting. The footprints are everywhere; the debating about whether the footprints are really one set or many sets is what philosophers do when they cannot see. The seeing is the move; the debate is the substitute.
The implication for practice: prioritize what helps you see. The book that teaches you to see is more valuable than the book that explains why seeing is correct. Tukaram is on the seeing side, with bhakti tradition; whether seeing implies advaita, dvaita, viśiṣṭādvaita is downstream and uninteresting compared to whether you actually see.
मराठी: ही ओवी त्या क्षणासाठी आहे जेव्हा तुम्हाला आढळतं की तत्त्वज्ञानाचा प्रश्न — सत्य एक की अनेक, देव सगुण की निर्गुण, चैतन्य सार्वत्रिक की वैयक्तिक — अंतर्दृष्टी न देता तुमचं लक्ष खात आहे. तुकारामांचा दावा सोपा आहे: तुम्ही (विठ्ठल) सर्वत्र खरंच पाहू शकता तेव्हा प्रश्न मनोरंजक राहत नाही. पाऊलं सर्वत्र आहेत; ती पाऊलं खरोखर एक संच आहेत की अनेक — याबद्दलचा वाद म्हणजे जे तत्त्ववेत्ते करतात जेव्हा त्यांना दिसत नाही. पाहणं हीच हालचाल; वाद त्याचा पर्याय.
साधनेसाठी अर्थ: जे पाहायला मदत करेल त्याला priority द्या. जे पुस्तक तुम्हाला पाहायला शिकवतं ते जे पुस्तक "पाहणं का बरोबर" समजावून सांगतं त्याहून मौल्यवान. तुकाराम पाहण्याच्या बाजूला आहेत — bhakti तंत्राबरोबर; पाहण्यातून advaita, dvaita, vishishtadvaita यापैकी काय खरं — हे downstream आहे आणि खरंच पाहता का याहून कमी मनोरंजक.
Where this applies
- When the 'one-or-many' philosophical question keeps eating your time. Tukaram's exit: the seeing has settled the question; the debating is a substitute for not-seeing.
- When you find yourself recognizing the divine in unexpected places. Trust it. Don't wrap it in philosophy.
- When someone draws you into a bheda-abheda debate. आम्हां नको वाद त्यांशीं देऊं.