Abhanga 239
Notice and appreciate what is near you now, because unrestrained grief later is not weakness but proof that your love was real.
The verse
भ्यालीं जिवा चुकलीं देवा । नाहीं ठावा जवळीं तो ॥१॥ आहाकटा करिती हाय । हात डोकें पिटिती पाय ॥ध्रु.॥ जवळी होतां न कळे आम्हां । गेल्या सीमा नाहीं दुःखा ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे हा लाघवी मोटा । पाहे खोटा खरा भाव ॥३॥
Literal translation
(They) feared for the jīva — missed the deva; he was not nearby. They make lamentation — hāya — beat hands, head, feet. (When he) was near — we did not know — (now he is) gone — no limit to suffering. Tuka says: this is the great juggler — he tests the false-and-true bhāva.
मराठी: भ्यालीं जिवा चुकलीं देवा — नाहीं ठावा जवळीं तो. आहाकटा करिती हाय — हात डोकें पिटिती पाय. जवळी होतां न कळे आम्हां — गेल्या सीमा नाहीं दुःखा. तुकाराम म्हणतात — हा लाघवी मोटा — पाहे खोटा खरा भाव.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| भ्यालीं जिवा चुकलीं देवा | "(they) bhyālīm (feared) for the jīva — missed the deva" |
| नाहीं ठावा जवळीं तो | "he was not (right) jaḷaḷī (nearby)" |
| आहाकटा करिती हाय | "they make āhā-kaṭā hāya (lamentation)" |
| हात डोकें पिटिती पाय | "beat hands, head, feet" |
| जवळी होतां न कळे आम्हां | "(when) he was near — we did not know" |
| गेल्या सीमा नाहीं दुःखा | "gone — no sīmā (limit) to (the) duḥkha (suffering)" |
| लाघवी मोटा | "the great lāghavī (juggler / sleight-of-hand artist)" |
| पाहे खोटा खरा भाव | "(he) tests the khoṭā-kharā (false-and-true) bhāva" |
What it means
Continuation of Kāliya-mardana sequence (237-240). Three movements:
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भ्यालीं जिवा चुकलीं देवा — नाहीं ठावा जवळीं तो — they feared for the jīva — missed the deva; he was not nearby. The post-leap state: the bhaktas fear for their own life (the jīva) and missed the deva (= lost track of him); he was not nearby. The jīva-fear-and-deva-loss combination.
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आहाकटा करिती हाय — हात डोकें पिटिती पाय — make lamentation — hāya — beat hands, head, feet. The bodily-grief. Beating-hands-head-feet is the standard Marathi grief-form. Don't abstract this into emotion-only; the body-grief is real.
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जवळी होतां न कळे आम्हां — गेल्या सीमा नाहीं दुःखा — (when) he was near, we did not know — gone, no limit to suffering. The sharpest claim. The honest-recognition: while he was near, we did not know (= did not recognize, did not appreciate, did not register); now he is gone, the suffering has no limit. The not-knowing-when-near causes the unlimited-suffering-when-gone. (This is structurally about recognition-while-present being the only protection-from-unlimited-suffering-when-gone.)
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तुका म्हणे हा लाघवी मोटा — पाहे खोटा खरा भाव — Tuka says: this is the great lāghavī (juggler) — tests the false-and-true bhāva. The closing claim. The deity is lāghavī moṭā — the great juggler / illusionist / sleight-of-hand artist — and the leelā tests the false-and-true bhāva. The crisis-event itself is the test. Those whose bhāva is false — they forget Krishna once gone. Those whose bhāva is true — they suffer-without-limit when gone (the suffering-without-limit is the test-pass). [T]
For someone today
This abhang teaches the discipline of recognizing what is present while it is still near. The common failure is that we don't fully register or appreciate someone while they're close to us, and once they're gone that unrecognized nearness turns into grief with no limit. That grief is bodily, not just emotional — beating your hands, head, and feet in lament is a real and legitimate part of the response, not something to explain away as mere feeling. Tuka calls the deity the great illusionist, whose leelā tests whether your devotion is true or false: a false devotion forgets once the beloved is gone, but a true devotion suffers without limit, and that very intensity of suffering is the proof, not something to be ashamed of or to suppress. So today: recognize fully what and who is near you now, and if loss comes, let both the bodily grief and the boundless suffering come too — they are the honest sign of real love.
मराठी: ही ओवी सांगते की जे जवळ आहे ते जवळ असतानाच ओळखायला हवं. सामान्य चूक अशी होते की जवळची व्यक्ती जवळ असतानाच आपण तिची खरी किंमत ओळखत नाही, आणि ती गेल्यावर हे न ओळखलेलं जवळपण अमर्याद दुःखात बदलतं. हे दुःख शारीरिकही असतं, फक्त भावनिक नाही — हात, डोकं, पाय आपटून विलाप करणं हा प्रतिक्रियेचा खरा आणि रास्त भाग आहे, त्याला केवळ भावना म्हणून बाजूला सारू नये. तुकाराम देवाला मोठा जादूगार म्हणतात, ज्याची लीला भक्ती खरी आहे की खोटी हे तपासते — खोटी भक्ती प्रिय व्यक्ती गेल्यावर विसरते, पण खरी भक्ती अमर्याद दुःख भोगते, आणि हे दुःखाचं तीव्रपण हाच पुरावा असतो, त्याची लाज बाळगायची किंवा ते दाबायचं कारण नाही. म्हणून आज: जे जवळ आहे ते पूर्णपणे ओळखा, आणि जर काही हरवलं तर शारीरिक दुःख आणि अमर्याद वेदना दोन्हीही येऊ द्या — तेच खऱ्या प्रेमाचं प्रामाणिक चिन्ह आहे.
Where this applies
- Recognize while near. Failure of while-near recognition causes post-loss unlimited-suffering.
- Bodily-grief is real. Don't abstract.
- Crisis tests the bhāva. Suffering-intensity is the diagnostic.