Abhanga 250

Seeing, eating, speaking, and hearing continue after realization; what falls away is the claim of I and mine over them, not the acts themselves.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A profound not-doing-while-doing-all abhang — the non-dual paradox in folk-register. Six paired claims, all of the same form X-without-X-ing:

1. न देखोन — पाहिलें सकळ ही — without seeing — saw all. The seeing-without-seeing.
2. न घेतां — घेतलें — not-taking, took. The taking-without-taking.
3. खादलें न खातां — रसना रस जाली घेतां — ate without eating; the rasanā became-taking-the-rasa. The eating-without-eating.
4. न बोलोनि बोलें — not-speaking, spoke. The speaking-without-speaking.
5. नाइकिलें कानीं — आलें मनीं — not-heard-by-the-ear — came-to-the-mind. The hearing-without-ear-hearing.

And the master-claim in the middle: मी हें माझें ठेलें दुरी — I-and-mine stayed distant.

The non-dual paradox in folk-register: when I-and-mine are put-aside, the seeing-doing-eating-speaking-hearing still happens — but without the I-and-mine doing them. The acts continue without the actor. (Compare Bhagavad Gita 5.8-9 — the wise see that they do not do anything.)

This is not withdrawal from action; it is action-without-claim. The acts are not abandoned; the I-and-mine claim is abandoned.

The six-fold structure covers the senses (sight, hearing, taste), the limbs (hand-foot for taking), and the speech-faculty. All faculties function, none claimed. [T]

For someone today

This abhang describes what life looks like after a deep realization, using plain, everyday language rather than philosophical terms. Seeing, taking, eating, speaking, and hearing all continue exactly as before — realization doesn't mean you stop living and acting in the world. What actually changes is that the sense of 'I' and 'mine' steps back and no longer claims ownership of those actions; you still see, still eat, still speak, but without insisting that a separate self is the one doing it. Tukaram makes this point through six ordinary, homely images — not seeing yet seeing everything, not taking yet taking, not eating yet tasting, not speaking yet speaking, not hearing with the ear yet somehow it reaches the mind — showing that this kind of freedom doesn't require special philosophy or advanced practice; it's available in the middle of ordinary life.

मराठी: ही ओवी सांगते की खोल साक्षात्कारानंतर आयुष्य कसं दिसतं, तेही सोप्या, रोजच्या भाषेत, कठीण तत्त्वज्ञानाच्या शब्दांशिवाय. पाहणं, घेणं, खाणं, बोलणं आणि ऐकणं हे सर्व आधीसारखंच चालू राहतं — साक्षात्कार म्हणजे जगणं आणि कृती करणं थांबवणं नव्हे. खरं तर जे बदलतं ते हे की 'मी' आणि 'माझं' ही जाणीव मागे सरते आणि त्या कृतींवर स्वतःचा हक्क सांगणं थांबवते; तुम्ही तरीही पाहता, खाता, बोलता, पण एक वेगळा 'मी' हेच सगळं करतो आहे असा आग्रह न धरता. तुकाराम हा मुद्दा सहा साध्या, घरगुती प्रतिमांमधून मांडतात — न पाहताही सगळं दिसणं, न घेताही घेतलं जाणं, न खाताही चव घेतली जाणं, न बोलताही बोलणं होणं, कानांनी न ऐकताही ते मनापर्यंत पोहोचणं — आणि यातून हे दाखवतात की अशी मुक्तता मिळवण्यासाठी खास तत्त्वज्ञान किंवा प्रगत साधनेची गरज नाही; ती रोजच्या साध्या आयुष्यातही उपलब्ध असते.

Where this applies

• Acts continue, I-and-mine set aside. Not less-action; no-claim-of-action.
• Six faculties, six paradoxes. Folk-register markers of realization.
• Folk-accessible, not philosopher-only.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with