Abhanga 158
Real practice needs a companion of clean discernment, unfolds in stages like winnowing and refining, produces an offering for someone you love, and is ultimately powered by the longing to go home.
The verse
सिद्ध करूनियां ठेविलें कांडण । मज सांगातीण शुद्ध बुद्धि गे ॥१॥ आठव हा धरीं मज जागें करीं । मागिले पाहारीं सेवटिचा गे ॥ध्रु.॥ सम तुकें घाव घालीं वो साजणी । मी तुजमळिणी जंव मिळे ॥२॥ एक कशी पाखडी दुसरी निवडी । निःशेष तिसडी ओज करी ॥३॥ सरलें कांडण पाकसद्धि करी । मेळवण क्षिरीसाकरेचें ॥४॥ उद्धव अक्रूर बंधु दोघेजण । बाप नारायण जेवणार ॥५॥ तुका म्हणे मज माहेरीं आवडी । म्हणोनि तांतडी मूळ केलें ॥६॥
Literal translation
I have set up the pounding ready, friend — shuddha-buddhi (clean mind) is my companion. Hold this remembrance; wake me up in the last watch, the final one. Strike blows of equal weight, O lovely one — until I am with you. One (woman) winnows, another sorts; the third completes the refining-rhythm. Pounding done — make the cooked dish, the milk-and-sugar mixing. Uddhava and Akrūra, the two brother-companions; father Nārāyaṇa is the diner. Tuka says: I love my māher — that is why I sent the urgent fetch-message.
मराठी: कांडण सिद्ध करून ठेवलंय, सखी — माझी संगतीण शुद्धबुद्धी गे. आठव धर — मला जागं कर शेवटच्या पहारी. सम तुक्याने घाव घाल वो साजणी — मी तुझ्यासह जोडली जाईपर्यंत. एक पाखडते, दुसरी निवडते; तिसरी निःशेष ओज करते. कांडण संपलं — पाक-सिद्धी कर; क्षीर-साखरेची मिळवण. उद्धव-अक्रूर दोघे बंधू; बाप नारायण जेवणार. तुकाराम म्हणतात — माहेरी आवडी, म्हणून तांतडीने मूळ (बोलावणं) केलं.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सिद्ध करूनियां ठेविलें कांडण | "(I have) set up the kanḍaṇa (rice-pounding pestle/mortar) ready" |
| मज सांगातीण शुद्ध बुद्धि गे | "my companion (is) shuddha-buddhi (pure intellect/mind), friend" |
| आठव हा धरीं | "hold this remembrance" |
| मज जागें करीं | "wake me up" |
| मागिले पाहारीं सेवटिचा | "in the last watch, the final" |
| सम तुकें घाव घालीं वो साजणी | "strike blows of equal tuka (weight/measure), O lovely-one" |
| मी तुजमळिणी जंव मिळे | "until I am with you" / "while I am joining you" |
| एक कशी पाखडी | "one (woman) winnows" |
| दुसरी निवडी | "another sorts/selects" |
| निःशेष तिसडी ओज करी | "the third makes the oja (refined-rhythm/finishing) complete" |
| सरलें कांडण | "the pounding is done" |
| पाकसद्धि करी | "make the paaka (cooked dish)" |
| मेळवण क्षिरीसाकरेचें | "the mixing of milk-and-sugar" |
| उद्धव अक्रूर बंधु दोघेजण | "Uddhava and Akrūra, the two brother-companions" |
| बाप नारायण जेवणार | "father Nārāyaṇa is the diner" |
| माहेरीं आवडी | "love (longing) for māher (mother's-house)" |
| तांतडी मूळ केलें | "I sent the mūla (the call-message to come fetch me) in haste" |
What it means
A kanḍaṇa (rice-pounding) abhang — folk women's communal work as bhakti allegory. Kanḍaṇa is the rural Marathi rice-husking work where two or more women strike the mortar in alternating-rhythm with heavy pestles, accompanied by ovi (work-songs).
The structural mapping: - The pestle-work = the bhakti practice - The companion (sāngātīṇ) = shuddha-buddhi (clean-mind / discernment) — the partner you need for the work - The blows of equal weight (sam tuke) = the rhythmic discipline of practice (Tukaram's signature pun: sam tuke = even-weight, also sam-Tuke = with-Tuka) - The three women = the three stages of refinement: winnowing (initial chaff-removal), sorting (precision-separation), final refining (oja). The bhakti-work has stages, not a single move. - The final dish (kṣīra-sākhara mēḷavaṇa) = milk-and-sugar mix — the prepared bhakti offering - The diner is bāp Nārāyaṇa — father Nārāyaṇa - The closing move: māher-āvaḍī — the love-of-mother's-house. Māher is the daughter's natal home (vs. sāsar, in-laws' house); the longing-for-māher is a deep Marathi affective register Tukaram repeatedly maps onto longing-for-the-deity. मूळ — the fetch-message — is what a married woman sends to her natal family asking them to come bring her home. [T]
For someone today
Tukaram borrows the image of women pounding rice together to describe what real spiritual practice looks like. You cannot do it alone; you need a companion, and the companion he names is a clean, discerning mind. The work itself has stages, like winnowing, sorting, and final refining, so do not expect one effort to finish the job. All that pounding is not the point in itself; it exists to produce a finished, sweet offering for someone you love, and the deeper motive underneath the whole labor is simple longing, the pull to go home to where you belong.
मराठी: तुकाराम भात कांडणाऱ्या स्त्रियांच्या प्रतिमेतून खऱ्या साधनेचं रूप सांगतात. हे काम एकट्याने होत नाही — त्यासाठी संगतीण लागते, आणि ती संगतीण म्हणजे स्वच्छ, विवेकी मन. या कामाला टप्पे असतात — पाखडणं, निवडणं आणि अंतिम शुद्धीकरण — त्यामुळे एका प्रयत्नात सगळं पूर्ण होईल असं समजू नका. हे कांडण स्वतःसाठी नाही; ते एका प्रिय व्यक्तीसाठी तयार केलेला गोड नैवेद्य बनवण्यासाठी आहे, आणि या सगळ्या श्रमामागचा खरा हेतू साधी ओढ आहे — आपल्या मूळ घरी परत जाण्याची ओढ.
Where this applies
- Solo-practicing without companion. शुद्धबुद्धी gē.
- Collapsing stages of refinement. Three women, three jobs.
- Forgetting the māher-fetch is the motive. तांतडी मूळ केलें.