Abhanga 170

This abhang is comic-tender and has two simultaneous lessons:

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

The gopi-mothers' mock-rage scene. After discovering the upturned milk-pot (169), the gopis plan their discipline — and the abhang is comic-tender:

1. दोघां धरूनियां मारूं — catch and beat the two. The mock-threat. The gopis are not actually going to harm Krishna and his comrades; this is the standard post-mischief disciplinary script.

2. But the punchline: मग टाकिती हे खोडी, तोंडीं लागली ते गोडी — then they'll drop the mischief — the sweetness has gotten on the tongue. Tongue-with-the-taste-of-stolen-butter cannot un-taste. The gopis themselves know the discipline cannot work; the sweetness has already taken hold.

3. कोंडूं घरामधीं, न बोलोनि जागों बुद्धी — lock them in the house, without speaking — awaken the buddhi. The new plan: containment with silence. The hidden Tukaram-irony: being locked in the house with Krishna, in silence, is exactly bhakti-samādhi. The mock-punishment is the gift. जागों बुद्धी — the wisdom awakens — precisely because of the silent containment.

4. बोलावितो देवा, तुका गडियांचा मेळावा — Tuka calls the deva — the comrade-band gathering. While the gopis plan the containment, Tuka calls the bhakti-band together — the saving frame. The gaḍiyāñcā mēḷāvā (comrade-gathering) is the social-form of bhakti.

[T]

For someone today

This abhang is comic-tender and has two simultaneous lessons:

1. The sweetness-on-the-tongue claim: once you have tasted something real (a real love, a real practice, a real disruption-by-grace), no discipline can make you go back. You cannot un-taste. People around you may threaten / lock-down / discipline; the sweetness has already taken hold. This is not a license to be reckless; it is a recognition that the gopis' threats are mock-threats in the bhakti drama.

2. The lock-up-awakens-buddhi paradox: what looks like containment may be the gift. Being held in the house, in silence, with the loved-thing is what awakens wisdom. Don't fight the apparent-restriction; check whether it is actually protected-time-with-Krishna.

3. Tuka's response — call the comrade-band: when the surrounding world threatens, the move is call the deva and gather the band. Bhakti is communal; the band-of-comrades is what makes it sustainable.

मराठी: ही ओवी comic-tender आणि दोन simultaneous धडे:

1. तोंडावर गोडी चा दावा: एकदा खरं काही चाखलं (खरं प्रेम, खरी practice, grace ने खरी disruption) — कोणतीही शिस्त तुम्हाला परत आणू शकत नाही. चाखलेलं un-taste होत नाही. आजूबाजूचे लोक धमकी / lock-down / शिस्त लावतील — गोडी आधीच लागलीय. हा reckless होण्याचा license नाही; bhakti drama मध्ये गौळणींच्या धमक्या mock-धमक्या आहेत याची recognition आहे.

2. Lock-up बुद्धी जागवतं — paradox: जे containment दिसतं ते gift असू शकतं. घरात, शांततेत, प्रिय-गोष्टीसह बंद असणं — हेच बुद्धी जागवतं. apparent-restriction विरुद्ध लढू नका; ती actually Krishna-सोबत protected-time आहे का check करा.

3. तुकाची प्रतिक्रिया — गड्यांचा मेळावा बोलावा: आजूबाजूचं जग धमकावतं — हालचाल देवाला बोलावा आणि बँड गोळा करा. bhakti communal आहे; गड्यांचा मेळावा तीला sustainable करतो.

Where this applies

• Sweetness already on the tongue. No discipline returns you.
• Apparent-containment is gift. कोंडूं घरामधीं — जागों बुद्धी.
• Comrade-band is the saving frame. गडियांचा मेळावा.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2467
• Abhanga 4481
• Abhanga 4482
• Abhanga 4497