Abhanga 65
English: This abhang offers a precise instruction for the persistent illusions or obstacles in your life — the ones that do not yield to effort. You have tried to cut them; they grow back. You have tried to push them aside; they return. Tukaram's claim: these are shadow-things — they are inseparable from the larger reality of which they are a function, and effort against them is doomed. The thing that makes a shadow disappear is the body lying flat against the ground. The thing that dissolves the apparent obstacle is prostration — full surrender, the lying-down that makes the shadow have nowhere to fall.
The verse
माया तें चि ब्रम्ह ब्रम्ह तेंचि माया । अंग आणि छाया तया परी ॥१॥ तोडितां न तुटे सारितां निराळी । लोटांगणांतळीं हारपते ॥ध्रु.॥ दुजें नाहीं तेथें बळ कोणासाठीं । आणिक ते आटी विचाराची ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे उंच वाढे उंचपणें । ठेंगणीं लवणें जैसीं तैसीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Maya is brahman, brahman is maya — they are like the body and its shadow. (Maya) is not cut by trying to cut; it does not separate by being pushed aside. It vanishes (only) under prostration. Where there is no second, force is for whose sake? Even the labor of (philosophical) reasoning is wasted. Tuka says: the tall grow by their tallness; the low remain as they are.
मराठी: माया तेच ब्रह्म, ब्रह्म तेच माया — अंग आणि छायेसारखं. तोडलं तरी तुटत नाही, बाजूला सरकवली तरी निराळी होत नाही. लोटांगण घातल्यावरच ती हारपते. दुसरं नाही — मग बळ कुणासाठी? विचाराची ती आटीसुद्धा वाया. तुकाराम म्हणतात — उंच असलेलं उंचपणाने वाढतं; ठेंगणं तसंच राहतं.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| माया तें चि ब्रम्ह ब्रम्ह तेंचि माया | "maya is brahman, brahman is maya" |
| अंग आणि छाया तया परी | "(they are) like a body and its shadow" |
| तोडितां न तुटे | "(it) cannot be cut by trying to cut" |
| सारितां निराळी | "(it) does not become separate by being pushed aside" |
| लोटांगणांतळीं हारपते | "it vanishes under (the act of) prostration" (लोटांगण = full-body prostration) |
| दुजें नाहीं तेथें | "where there is no second" |
| बळ कोणासाठीं | "force — for whose sake?" |
| आणिक ते आटी विचाराची | "and the effort of (further) reasoning (is in vain)" |
| उंच वाढे उंचपणें | "the tall grows tall by its tallness" |
| ठेंगणीं लवणें जैसीं तैसीं | "the short remain low (as they are)" |
What it means
A compressed bhakti-vedanta on maya. The image is precise: अंग आणि छाया — body and shadow. Maya is not a separate-from-Brahma thing that one can dispose of; it is Brahma's shadow, inseparable. So: तोडितां न तुटे — cannot be cut; सारितां निराळी — does not become separate by pushing-aside. The only thing that makes a shadow disappear: prostration. When the body bows fully to the ground (लोटांगण), the shadow disappears under the body itself. The image works at multiple levels: physical (a person lying flat has no separate shadow on the ground), and theological (full surrender is what dissolves the apparent maya/brahma duality). [T] [Tradition]
The closing — उंच वाढे उंचपणें, ठेंगणीं लवणें जैसीं तैसीं — the tall grow by their tallness, the short remain as they are — names the bhakti-non-effort logic: don't try to make yourself bigger; what is naturally tall grows tall, and what is naturally low remains low; both are fine. Maya is not removed by self-aggrandizement; it is removed by lying down. [T]
For someone today
English: This abhang offers a precise instruction for the persistent illusions or obstacles in your life — the ones that do not yield to effort. You have tried to cut them; they grow back. You have tried to push them aside; they return. Tukaram's claim: these are shadow-things — they are inseparable from the larger reality of which they are a function, and effort against them is doomed. The thing that makes a shadow disappear is the body lying flat against the ground. The thing that dissolves the apparent obstacle is prostration — full surrender, the lying-down that makes the shadow have nowhere to fall.
The harder reading: the obstacles you can't defeat by effort may be teachers asking you to bow. The bowing is not defeat; it is the structural cure that effort cannot deliver. Effort is vertical (you grow tall to overcome); prostration is horizontal (you lie down so the shadow vanishes under you). Tukaram is recommending the second.
मराठी: ही ओवी कायम राहणाऱ्या illusions किंवा अडथळ्यांसाठी अचूक सूचना देते — ज्या प्रयत्नाने जात नाहीत. तोडायचा प्रयत्न केलात; पुन्हा वाढतं. बाजूला सरकवायचा; परत येतं. तुकारामांचा दावा: हे छाया-गोष्टी आहेत — मोठ्या वास्तवापासून अविभाज्य; त्यांच्याविरुद्ध प्रयत्न नष्ट होतो. छाया हटवते ती जमिनीवर सपाट पडलेली देह. स्पष्ट अडथळा विरघळवतो लोटांगण — पूर्ण समर्पण, पडून जाणं — जेणेकरून छायेला पडायला जागाच नाही.
कठीण वाचन: तुम्ही प्रयत्नाने हरवू शकत नाही ते अडथळे नमायला सांगणारे शिक्षक असू शकतात. नमणं म्हणजे पराभव नाही; प्रयत्न देऊ न शकणारा रचनात्मक उपाय. प्रयत्न उभा (overcome करायला उंच होता); लोटांगण आडवं (पडता जेणेकरून छायेला जायला जागा नाही). तुकाराम दुसरं recommend करत आहेत.
Where this applies
- When you've been trying to reject something persistent. The rejection is caught in it. Try lying down instead.
- When you can't push the obstacle away. सारितां निराळी — it doesn't become separate. लोटांगणांतळीं हारपते — it vanishes in prostration.
- When you've been trying to make yourself bigger. The vertical doesn't work. Try the horizontal.