Abhanga 68
This abhang lifts the metric. The fortunate are not the rich, the famous, the secure; they are the people whose love-for-something does not break. अखंडित — unbroken, without gap, without intermittence. If you know someone whose love for a person, a place, a practice has been continuous for years — without scandal-pause, without burnout-pause, without ironic-distance-pause — you have met one of the भाग्यवंत. The fortune is structural; their wealth-and-asset is the love itself.
The verse
पवित्र सोंवळीं । एक तीं च भूमंडळीं ॥१॥ ज्यांचा आवडता देव । अखंडित प्रेमभाव ॥ध्रु.॥ तीं च भाग्यवंतें । सरतीं पुरतीं धनवित्तें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे देवा । त्यांची केल्या पावे सेवा ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Pure, sovaḷe — there are only such ones on the whole earth: those whose beloved is the deity, with unbroken love-feeling. They alone are the fortunate ones — complete in wealth-and-asset. Tuka says: O God, one who renders them service reaches.
मराठी: पवित्र-सोंवळी — भूमंडळावर तेच एक — ज्यांचा आवडता देव, अखंडित प्रेमभाव. तेच भाग्यवंत — धनवित्तानेही पुरतं-सरतं. तुकाराम म्हणतात — देवा, त्यांची सेवा केली तर पावतंच.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पवित्र सोंवळीं | "pure, ritually-clean" (सोंवळीं = the sovaḷe, the ritual purity-state) |
| एक तीं च भूमंडळीं | "they alone — on the earth" |
| ज्यांचा आवडता देव | "those whose deity is beloved" |
| अखंडित प्रेमभाव | "unbroken love-feeling" |
| भाग्यवंतें | "the fortunate ones" |
| सरतीं पुरतीं धनवित्तें | "complete and sufficient in wealth-and-asset" |
What it means
Two redefinitions in three verses. (1) Pure, sovaḷe: not those who keep ritual purity by avoidance, but those whose love is unbroken. (2) Fortunate: not those with wealth, but those whose love is unbroken — and they are also complete in wealth-and-asset, by virtue of the love. The unbroken love itself functions as the wealth. The closing line is the recurring move — their service reaches the deity. [T]
For someone today
This abhang lifts the metric. The fortunate are not the rich, the famous, the secure; they are the people whose love-for-something does not break. अखंडित — unbroken, without gap, without intermittence. If you know someone whose love for a person, a place, a practice has been continuous for years — without scandal-pause, without burnout-pause, without ironic-distance-pause — you have met one of the भाग्यवंत. The fortune is structural; their wealth-and-asset is the love itself.
मराठी: ही ओवी metric उंच करते. भाग्यवंत म्हणजे श्रीमंत, प्रसिद्ध, सुरक्षित नाही — ज्यांचं कशावरचं प्रेम तुटत नाही ते. अखंडित. तुम्ही असं कुणाला ओळखत असाल — एखादी व्यक्ती, ठिकाण, साधना यावरचं प्रेम वर्षानुवर्षं अखंडित — गैरसमज-pause शिवाय, burnout-pause शिवाय, ironic-distance pause शिवाय — भाग्यवंत भेटला आहे. भाग्य रचनात्मक; धनवित्त प्रेमच.
Where this applies
- Wrong metrics for fortune. Tukaram replaces them.
- A long stretch of unbroken love. That IS the fortune.
- Blessing someone. Not "success" — अखंडित प्रेमभाव.