Abhanga 361

Trust that when you give yourself fully to devotion and let go of status and other attachments, grace quietly cares for your needs and can turn even poison into nectar.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A yogīrāja-marks-and-deva's-care abhang. Five claims:

1. ध्यानी योगीराज बैसले कपाटीं — लागे पाठोवाटीं तयांचिया — yogīrāja sit in dhyāna in caves — (He) follows their trail. The deva-follows-the-yogīrāja claim: the yogīrāja sit in dhyāna in caves; the deva follows their trail. The yogīrāja are not alone in the cave; the deva is the trail-follower.

2. तान भुक त्यांचें राखे शीत उष्ण — जाले उदासीन देहभाव — thirst-hunger — He keeps — heat-cold — deha-bhāva became udāsīna. The deva-keeps-the-bodily-needs claim: thirst, hunger, heat, cold — kept by the deva. The deha-bhāva of the yogīrāja becomes udāsīna (indifferent) — because the deva keeps the bodily-needs. Indifference-to-body comes from deva's-keeping.

3. कोण सखें तयां आणीक सोयरें — असे त्यां दुसरें हरीविण — who other-than-Hari is their kin? The no-other-kin claim: for the yogīrāja, no other kin / no other-dear besides Hari.

4. कोण सुख त्यांच्या जीवासि आनंद — नाहीं राज्यमद घडी तयां — what sukha, what ānanda in their jīva — no rājya-mada even for a ghaḍī. The no-other-sukha claim: no other sukha or ānanda for them; no royalty-pride even momentarily. (Compare 256 bhakta declines kingdom; same anti-rājya register.)

5. तुका म्हणे विष अमृता समान — कृपा नारायण करितां होय — Tuka says: viṣa equals amṛta — when Nārāyaṇa makes kṛpā. The closing-claim: poison equals nectar — when Nārāyaṇa shows kṛpā. The kṛpā-transforms-substance claim. What was poison becomes nectar by kṛpā.

[T]

For someone today

Picture great yogis sitting in deep meditation in mountain caves. Tukaram says God doesn't leave them alone there; God follows right behind them, quietly taking care of their hunger, thirst, heat and cold, so their bodies can become indifferent to those needs without them actually suffering. These seekers want nothing else, no other family, no other pleasure, not even a moment's pride in power or status; Hari alone is enough for them. And because of grace, even what would be poison becomes as sweet as nectar. There's reassurance here: when you give yourself fully to devotion and let go of worldly attachments, the care you'd normally provide for yourself doesn't vanish, it simply passes into grace's hands, and grace can turn even hardship into something nourishing.

मराठी: कल्पना करा की महान योगी गुहेत खोल ध्यानात बसलेले आहेत. तुकाराम म्हणतात की देव त्यांना तिथे एकटं सोडत नाही, देव त्यांच्यामागे पावलोपावली जातो, त्यांची भूक-तहान, थंडी-ऊन शांतपणे सांभाळतो, म्हणजे त्यांचं शरीर या गरजांबद्दल उदासीन होऊ शकतं, तरीही त्यांना खरा त्रास होत नाही. या साधकांना दुसरं काहीच नको असतं, दुसरं नातं नाही, दुसरं सुख नाही, सत्तेचा किंवा प्रतिष्ठेचा एका क्षणाचाही गर्व नाही; त्यांना फक्त हरी पुरेसा असतो. आणि देवाच्या कृपेमुळे जे विष असतं तेही अमृतासारखं गोड होतं. यातून एक दिलासा मिळतो, जर तुम्ही भक्तीत आपली सांसारिक ओढ सोडलीत, तर स्वतःची जी काळजी तुम्ही स्वतः घेत असता ती नाहीशी होत नाही, ती फक्त कृपेच्या हातात जाते, आणि कृपा कठीण प्रसंगालाही पोषक बनवू शकते.

Where this applies

• Deva follows yogīrāja's trail. Trail-care.
• Body-needs kept by deva. When deha-bhāva is udāsīna.
• No other kin, sukha, rājya-mada. Marks-list.
• Kṛpāmakesviṣaequalamṛta. Transformation-rule.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 4497 — Tukaram describes a life so soaked in devotion that Krishna's presence fills every ordinar