Abhanga 392

Deep devotion can look undignified or like a loss of belonging, but only God's own word, not the crowd's mockery or clever argument, can judge what is true in a surrendered heart.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A gōpī-falls-separate-from-clan-on-seeing-Krishna abhang. Four claims:

1. न सांभाळुनि अंग लोटी पाहे भोंवतीं — वेगळी च पडों पाहे कुळाहुनिया ती — without protecting the body, pushes-and-looks-around — falls separate from her clan. The opening-image: the gōpī, without protecting her body (= without normal-modesty), pushes through and looks around; falls separate from herkuḷa(clan, family). Bhakti separates from clan.

2. त्यांचीं नांवें बोभे अहो अहो श्रीपती — नवलाव हा येरां वाटोनियां हांसती — takes their names — aho aho Śrīpati — novelty for others laughing. The public-call image: she calls aloud —aho aho Śrīpati(oh oh, Lord-of-Śrī); for others, this is a novelty — they laugh. The bhakta's-public-call invites mockery.

3. विसरूनि गेली सासुरें की माहेर — एका अवलोकी एका पडिला विसर — forgot in-laws or māhera — one watches, one forgets. The forgetting-claim: forgot thesāsurē(in-laws') ormāhera(parents'); one (woman) watches, one forgets. Some watch the absorbed-bhakta; the bhakta herself forgets all places.

4. त्याचा त्याच्या मुखें अवघाची निर्वाळा — बहुतां मतें येथें तर्कवाद निराळा — from his own mouth — all nirvāḷā — many opinions, different tarka-vāda. The closing-claim: thenirvāḷā(resolution / settlement) of (her state / the deva's-state) is from his own mouth; many opinions andtarka-vāda(logic-debate) differ here. Don't trust the many tarka-vāda opinions; the deva's own mouth is the nirvāḷā.

[T]

For someone today

This abhang describes a woman so overtaken by devotion that she forgets to guard herself, pushes through the crowd looking around, and falls away from her own family and clan. She calls out loud, oh Shripati, oh Lord, and the people around her find it strange and laugh at her. She forgets both her husband's house and her parents' house completely, while others simply watch her, unable to understand what has taken hold of her. In the end Tukaram says the real verdict on what is happening in her belongs only to God's own word, not to the many arguments and opinions people offer about her. The lesson is that deep devotion can look undignified, embarrassing, even like a loss of belonging, and you should not judge it by the crowd's mockery or by clever argument, but trust that only God himself can say what is true about a heart given over to him.

मराठी: या अभंगात एक स्त्री भक्तीच्या भरात इतकी गुंग होते की स्वतःचं भानही विसरते, गर्दीतून पुढे सरकत इकडे-तिकडे पाहत राहते आणि आपल्या घराण्यापासून, कुळापासून वेगळी पडते. ती मोठ्याने अहो अहो श्रीपती अशी हाक मारते, आणि हे पाहून आजूबाजूचे लोक तिला नवल समजून हसतात. ती सासर आणि माहेर दोन्ही पूर्णपणे विसरून जाते, तर काहीजण फक्त आश्चर्याने तिच्याकडे पाहत राहतात, तिला काय झालं आहे हे न समजता. शेवटी तुकाराम म्हणतात की तिच्याबद्दलचा खरा निर्णय फक्त देवाच्याच तोंडून येऊ शकतो, लोकांच्या वेगवेगळ्या मतांतून आणि वादविवादातून नाही. यातून शिकवण अशी की, खोल भक्ती कधी कधी अशोभनीय, लाजिरवाणी किंवा नात्यांपासून तुटलेली वाटू शकते, पण तिचं मूल्यमापन गर्दीच्या हसण्यावरून किंवा शहाण्या युक्तिवादांवरून करू नये; देवाला समर्पित झालेल्या मनाबद्दलचं खरं सत्य फक्त देवच सांगू शकतो, यावर विश्वास ठेवावा.

Where this applies

• Absorption drops normal-modesty. Not impropriety.
• Bhakti separates from kuḷa. Anti-clan-essential.
• Public-call invites mockery. Prepare.
• Social-locations forgotten. Absorption.
• Deva's mouth is nirvāḷā. Anti-tarka-vāda.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2481 — Pandharpur surpasses even the greatest pilgrimage cities because people there set aside pr
• 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 4483 — Tukaram tells of the gopis whose all-consuming secret longing for Krishna, hidden beneath