संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 235 of 4582

Abhanga 235

This abhang names a real obstacle: the formal-religion's gatekeeper at the deity's house. Four claims:

When the gatekeeper at the loved-one's house is the obstacle — and you have to recognize this register
When telling the signs to identify-yourself costs jīva-energy — and you accept the depleting-cost
When the round-trips were in vain — enough — and you turn back from the loved-one's house

The verse

मागायास गेलों सिदोरी । तुझ्या मायाघरीं गांजियेलों ॥१॥ तुजविणें ते नेदी कोणा । सांगतां खुणा जिवें गेलों ॥ध्रु.॥ वांयांविण केली येरझार । आतां पुरे घर तुझी माया ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे तूं आम्हां वेगळा । राहें गोपाळा म्हणउनी ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: I went to ask for shidori — in your mother's house I was harassed. Without you (= you yourself), she gives to no one. Telling the signs — I lost (my) jīva. In vain — the round-trips were made; enough now (of) your mother's house. Tuka says: you (stay) separate from us — stay (back), gopāla — I am saying.

मराठी: मागायास गेलों सिदोरी — तुझ्या मायाघरीं गांजियेलों. तुजविणें ते नेदी कोणा — सांगतां खुणा जिवें गेलों. वांयांविण केली येरझार — आतां पुरे घर तुझी माया. तुकाराम म्हणतात — तूं आम्हां वेगळा — राहें गोपाळा म्हणउनी.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
मागायास गेलों सिदोरी "I went to ask for shidori"
तुझ्या मायाघरीं गांजियेलों "in your māyā's ghara (mother's house) — I was gāñjiyēlōm (harassed / tormented / put-to-misery)"
तुजविणें ते नेदी कोणा "without you (= without your-presence) — she gives to no-one"
सांगतां खुणा जिवें गेलों "telling the khuṇā (signs / identifying-marks) — I lost the jīva (life-energy)"
वांयांविण केली येरझार "in vain — the yer-zara (round-trips) was made"
आतां पुरे घर तुझी माया "now enough (of) the house — your māyā"
तूं आम्हां वेगळा "you (stay) separate from us"
राहें गोपाळा म्हणउनी "stay (back), gopāla — I am saying"

What it means

A gatekeeper-at-the-loved-one's-house abhang. Continuation of 234's playful-exclusion register. Four movements:

  1. मागायास गेलों सिदोरी — तुझ्या मायाघरीं गांजियेलोंI went to ask for shidori — at your mother's house I was harassed. The bhakta went to seek the deity's gift at the deity's home — and was gāñjiyēlōm (harassed, tormented) by the gatekeeper (the māyā — Krishna's mother, but with the wordplay: māyā = illusion / the cosmic-mother of veils).

  2. तुजविणें ते नेदी कोणा — सांगतां खुणा जिवें गेलोंwithout you, she gives to no one — telling the signs, I lost jīva. Without the deity's presence, the gatekeeper-mother gives to no one. The bhakta tried to prove identity by signs (telling the khuṇā — the identifying-marks, possibly the bhakta-of-Krishna marks) — and lost jīva-energy in the process. Self-justification before the gatekeeper depletes.

  3. वांयांविण केली येरझार — आतां पुरे घर तुझी मायाin vain the round-trips were made — now enough (of) your mother's house. The honest-recognition: the round-trips to the deity's house were in vain. Enough now of māyā-ghara. The māyā-house is not the right access-route.

  4. तूं आम्हां वेगळा — राहें गोपाळा म्हणउनीyou (stay) separate from us — stay back, gopāla — I am saying. The playful-exclusion closing. You stay away. The deity-as-troublesome-presence-with-troublesome-mother register continues from 234. Don't come; don't make us approach your mother's house.

The structural-meaning: the formal-religion's gatekeeper-mother-of-illusion guards the deity's house and harasses bhaktas seeking direct-access. The bhakta's honest-recognition is the formal-house is not the right route. Stay back, gopālameet us elsewhere, not at your mother-of-illusion's house. The meeting-place should be outside the māyā-gatekeeping. (Compare 211's Amarāvatī deserted; 198's Pandhari rejects Vaikuntha; 197's singing-dancing happier than forest-yogis.)

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For someone today

This abhang names a real obstacle: the formal-religion's gatekeeper at the deity's house. Four claims:

  1. Going to the deity's house may not be the access-route. Tujhyā māyāgharī gāñjiyēlōm. If you have tried to access the deity through the formal-house (institution, temple-as-establishment, priestly-mediator, doctrinal-gate), you may have been harassed by the gatekeeper-māyā. This is not your failure; it is the structural problem of the route.

  2. Self-justification before the gatekeeper depletes. Sāngatām khuṇā jīvē gēlōm. The gatekeeper demands you prove identity by signs — and the proving depletes your jīva. Stop exhausting yourself in proof-of-bhakti to the gatekeeper; the gatekeeper does not give without the deity's presence anyway.

  3. Vain round-trips to the formal-house — enough. Vāyāmvīṇa kēlī yer-zara — ātām purē ghara tujhī māyā. The honest-recognition: the round-trips to the māyā-house were in vain. Enough now. Stop the round-trips to that gatekeeper.

  4. Meet the deity outside the māyā-house. Tūm āmhām vegaḷā — rāhē gopāḷā mhaṇaunī. The bhakta's playful instruction to the deity: stay separate from your mother's house; meet us elsewhere. The meeting-place is the vāḷavaṇṭa (193), the kālā-feast (164, 212), the forest-cowherd-ground (226) — not the māyā-ghara.

For today: when you find yourself harassed by gatekeepers at the formal-religion's house, recognize the structural-problem; stop the vain round-trips; seek the deity outside the māyā-gatekeeping. The bhakti-tradition's vāḷavaṇṭa-form is exactly the alternative-route.

मराठी: ही ओवी एक real obstacle नाव सांगते: formal-religion चा gatekeeper देवाच्या घरी. चार claims:

  1. देवाच्या घरी जाणं access-route नसेल. तुझ्या मायाघरीं गांजियेलों. तुम्ही देवाला formal-house मधून (institution, temple-as-establishment, priestly-mediator, doctrinal-gate) access करायचा प्रयत्न केला असेल — gatekeeper-māyā ने harass केलं असेल. हे तुमचं failure नाही; route चा structural problem.

  2. Gatekeeper समोर self-justification देप्लीटे होतं. सांगतां खुणा जिवें गेलों. Gatekeeper तुम्हाला signs ने identity prove करायला लावतोproving तुमचं jīva depletes. Gatekeeper साठी proof-of-bhakti exhausting थांबवा; gatekeeper देवाच्या presence शिवाय देत नाहीच.

  3. Formal-house ला vain round-trips — enough. वांयांविण केली येरझार — आतां पुरे घर तुझी माया. Honest-recognition: māyā-house ला round-trips व्यर्थ. आता पुरे. त्या gatekeeper साठी round-trips थांबवा.

  4. देवाला māyā-house बाहेर भेटा. तूं आम्हां वेगळा — राहें गोपाळा म्हणउनी. Bhakta ची playful instruction देवाला: आपल्या मातेच्या घरापासून separate राहा; आम्हाला बाहेर भेटा. Meeting-place वाळवंट (193), kālā-feast (164, 212), forest-cowherd-ground (226) — māyā-ghara नाही.

आज: formal-religion च्या घरी gatekeepers ने harass केलंय — structural-problem ओळखा; vain round-trips थांबवा; māyā-gatekeeping बाहेर देवाला शोधा. Bhakti-tradition चा vāḷavaṇṭa-form exactly alternative-route.

Where this applies

Related verses