Abhanga 360
This verse offers three pictures of what full attention looks like. A mother, hearing news about her son, gives it her whole being — that's how Tukaram wants your mind to listen when you sing or hear about God's qualities. Then there's a deer so caught up in a beautiful sound that it forgets its own body entirely — that kind of absorption is possible when devotion truly grips you. Finally there's the old folk image of a mother tortoise who nourishes her hatchlings just by gazing at them from a distance, suggesting that God's gaze alone can sustain you, without any physical touch. Together they describe attention as something total: concentrated like a mother's ear, absorbed like a deer's whole body, and fed like a tortoise's chick, simply by being seen.
The verse
पुत्राची वार्ता । शुभ ऐके जेवीं माता ॥१॥ तैसें राहो माझें मन । गातां ऐकतां हरिगुण ॥ध्रु.॥ नादें लुब्ध जाला मृग । देह विसरला अंग ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पाहे । कासवीचें पिलें माये ॥३॥
Literal translation
As the mātā hears the auspicious vārtā of the son — thus let my mana be — singing-and-hearing Hari-guṇa. The mṛga — was lured by the nāda — forgot the body. Tuka says: see — the kāsavī's chick — māya.
मराठी: पुत्राची वार्ता शुभ ऐके जेवीं माता — तैसें राहो माझें मन — गातां ऐकतां हरिगुण. नादें लुब्ध जाला मृग — देह विसरला अंग. तुकाराम म्हणतां — पाहे कासवीचें पिलें माये.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पुत्राची वार्ता शुभ ऐके जेवीं माता | "as the mātā (mother) hears the auspicious vārtā (news) of the son" |
| तैसें राहो माझें मन | "thus let my mana be" |
| गातां ऐकतां हरिगुण | "singing-and-hearing Hari-guṇa" |
| नादें लुब्ध जाला मृग | "the mṛga — was lured by the nāda" |
| देह विसरला अंग | "forgot — the deha-anga (body)" |
| पाहे कासवीचें पिलें माये | "see — the kāsavī's chick — māya (mother)" |
What it means
A famous pure-attention-on-Hari-guṇa abhang. Three analogies:
-
पुत्राची वार्ता शुभ ऐके जेवीं माता — तैसें राहो माझें मन — गातां ऐकतां हरिगुण — as mother hears son's auspicious news — thus my mana — singing-hearing Hari-guṇa. The mother-hearing-son's-news analogy: when a mother hears auspicious news of her son, all her attention concentrates; so let mymanabe — towardHari-guṇa. Maternal-attention is the model of pure-attention.
-
नादें लुब्ध जाला मृग — देह विसरला अंग — deer was lured by the nāda — forgot the body. The deer-lured-by-sound analogy. The deer hearing the hunter'snāda(perhaps a flute orpiparī) — becomes so absorbed that it forgets the body. (In folk-tradition, deer are caught by music — the nāda-mōha of the deer.) Mind-absorbed-in-Hari-guṇa-nāda forgets body.
-
तुका म्हणे पाहे — कासवीचें पिलें माये — Tuka says: see — the kāsavī's chick — māya. The tortoise-mother-and-chick analogy. In folk-natural-history, the tortoise-mother (kāsavī) is said to nourish her chicks by gaze (dṛṣṭi) — not by physical-feeding but by visual-attention. The kāsavī-pilē-māya image is a famous Sant-tradition image of mother-attention as the nourishment-channel. (Used by Jñānadev, Eknath, and Tukaram.)
[T]
For someone today
This verse offers three pictures of what full attention looks like. A mother, hearing news about her son, gives it her whole being — that's how Tukaram wants your mind to listen when you sing or hear about God's qualities. Then there's a deer so caught up in a beautiful sound that it forgets its own body entirely — that kind of absorption is possible when devotion truly grips you. Finally there's the old folk image of a mother tortoise who nourishes her hatchlings just by gazing at them from a distance, suggesting that God's gaze alone can sustain you, without any physical touch. Together they describe attention as something total: concentrated like a mother's ear, absorbed like a deer's whole body, and fed like a tortoise's chick, simply by being seen.
मराठी: ही ओवी पूर्ण लक्ष कसं असावं याची तीन चित्रं देते. आईला मुलाची बातमी ऐकताना जसं सर्वस्व एकवटतं, तसंच तुकाराम म्हणतात की हरिगुण गाताना-ऐकताना आपलं मन असावं. मग एक हरणाचं उदाहरण आहे — गोड नादाने इतकं मोहित होतं की ते स्वतःचा देहच विसरतं; भक्ती खरी लागली की अशी तल्लीनता येऊ शकते. आणि शेवटी लोकपरंपरेतलं कासवीचं चित्र — कासवीण आपल्या पिल्लांना नुसत्या नजरेनेच, दुरूनच पोसते असं मानलं जातं; म्हणजे देवाची नुसती कृपादृष्टीही तुम्हाला पुरेशी पोषक ठरू शकते. ही तिन्ही उदाहरणं मिळून सांगतात की खरं लक्ष म्हणजे आईच्या कानासारखं एकाग्र, हरणासारखं देहभान विसरणारं, आणि कासवीच्या पिल्लासारखं नुसत्या नजरेनेच पोसलं जाणारं.
Where this applies
- Mother-hearing-son's-news. Maternal-attention.
- Deer-lured-by-nāda, body-forgotten. Sound-absorption.
- Tortoise-mother gazes at chick. Gaze-nourishment.