Abhanga 124
This abhang corrects sectarian-religious thinking. The structural claim: deity-multiplicity is one body's many sides. Vaishnava and Saiva, Christian and Hindu, theist and apophatic — the distinctions are real-as-shapes but not real-as-bodies. The cure for the distinction-stuck mind is the एक चि अंग image — one and the same body. The भेदकासी नाड — the distinction-maker is snared — is an honest warning: the energy spent on insisting-on-difference is energy not spent on the one body. The abhang permits ecumenism not as compromise but as seeing the body whole.
The verse
हरिहरां भेद । नाहीं करूं नये वाद ॥१॥ एक एकाचे हृदयीं । गोडी साखरेच्या ठायीं ॥ध्रु.॥ भेदकासी नाड । एक वेलांटी च आड ॥२॥ उजवें वामांग । तुका म्हणे एक चि अंग ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Between Hari and Hara there is no difference — do not make a debate of it. Each dwells in the other's heart; sweetness lies in the one place of sugar. The distinction-maker is caught by just one curl of a letter. Tuka says: right side, left side — one and the same body.
मराठी: हरि-हरांत भेद नाही — वाद करू नका. एक एकाच्या हृदयात; गोडी साखरेच्या एका ठायी. भेदकाला एक वेलांटी आड काढते. उजवं-वाम (अंग) — तुकाराम म्हणतात — एकच अंग.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| हरिहरां भेद नाहीं | "between Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva) — there is no difference" |
| करूं नये वाद | "don't make a debate (of it)" |
| एक एकाचे हृदयीं | "each is in the other's heart" |
| गोडी साखरेच्या ठायीं | "the sweetness is in the (one) place of sugar" |
| भेदकासी नाड एक वेलांटी च आड | "the distinction-maker is caught by one mere curl-of-letter" (वेलांटी = the diacritical curl marking long-ī (ी) in Devanagari) |
| उजवें वामांग एक चि अंग | "right side, left side — one and the same body" |
What it means
A short Hari-Hara non-distinction abhang. Tukaram is addressing the long-running Vaishnava-Saiva sectarian debate by collapsing it: the two deities dwell in each other's hearts; their sweetness is in one place (= one substance, like sugar). The वेलांटी image is precise: in Marathi-Devanagari, the difference between many similar words is just a curl-mark. The distinction-maker (भेदक) gets snared by that single graphic flourish — mistaking the writing-difference for a substantial-difference. Right-and-left arms are not two bodies; they are one body's two sides. [T] [Tradition]
For someone today
This abhang corrects sectarian-religious thinking. The structural claim: deity-multiplicity is one body's many sides. Vaishnava and Saiva, Christian and Hindu, theist and apophatic — the distinctions are real-as-shapes but not real-as-bodies. The cure for the distinction-stuck mind is the एक चि अंग image — one and the same body. The भेदकासी नाड — the distinction-maker is snared — is an honest warning: the energy spent on insisting-on-difference is energy not spent on the one body. The abhang permits ecumenism not as compromise but as seeing the body whole.
मराठी: ही ओवी sectarian-religious विचाराला सुधारते. रचनात्मक दावा: देव-multiplicity एका शरीराच्या अनेक बाजू. वैष्णव-शैव, ख्रिश्चन-हिंदू, theist-apophatic — फरक shape-म्हणून खरे पण body-म्हणून खरे नाहीत. distinction-stuck मनासाठी उपाय एक चि अंग. भेदकासी नाड — प्रामाणिक warning: difference-वर-insist करण्यात खर्च केलेली ऊर्जा एका शरीरावर खर्च केलेली नाही. ओवी ecumenism ला परवानगी देते — compromise नाही — body whole पाहणं.
Where this applies
- Vaishnava-Saiva (or any sectarian) debate. एक चि अंग.
- Insisting one's tradition's form is superior. Curl-of-letter.
- Bhedaka who refuses to see one body. Trapped by graphic mark.