Abhanga 393
The most hidden, personal moments of closeness with God are not two beings meeting in secret, but a glimpse that you and the divine were never truly separate.
The verse
कळों नेदी माया त्याचें त्यास ठाउकें । खेळतोंसें दावी लक्षलक्षापें मुकें ॥१॥ काया वाचा मनें रूपीं गुंतल्या वासना । एकांताचें सुख जाती घेवोनियां राणा ॥ध्रु.॥ कळों नेदी घरिच्या करी गोवूनी चोरी । हातोहातीं नेती परपरत्या दुरी ॥२॥ एकाएकीं तेथें नाहीं दुसरें भिन्न । तुका म्हणे एका नारायणा वांचून ॥३॥
Literal translation
Doesn't let māyā know — His own knows His own — plays-and-shows — silent to lakhs of lakṣa. Kāyā-vāca-mana — vāsanā stuck in rūpa — takes ekānta-sukha — rāṇā goes. Doesn't let homemates know — does cōrī by gōvī — hand-to-hand takes — para-paratā — far. In the one — no second-different — Tuka says: one Nārāyaṇa alone.
मराठी: कळों नेदी माया त्याचें त्यास ठाउकें — खेळतोंसें दावी लक्षलक्षापें मुकें. काया वाचा मनें रूपीं गुंतल्या वासना — एकांताचें सुख जाती घेवोनियां राणा. कळों नेदी घरिच्या करी गोवूनी चोरी — हातोहातीं नेती परपरत्या दुरी. तुकाराम म्हणतां — एकाएकीं तेथें नाहीं दुसरें भिन्न — एका नारायणा वांचून.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| कळों नेदी माया त्याचें त्यास ठाउकें | "doesn't let māyā know — His own knows His own" |
| खेळतोंसें दावी लक्षलक्षापें मुकें | "plays-and-shows — silent to lakhs of lakṣa" |
| काया वाचा मनें रूपीं गुंतल्या वासना | "kāyā-vāca-mana — vāsanā stuck in rūpa" |
| एकांताचें सुख जाती घेवोनियां राणा | "takes ekānta-sukha — rāṇā goes" |
| कळों नेदी घरिच्या करी गोवूनी चोरी | "doesn't let homemates know — does cōrī by gōvī" |
| हातोहातीं नेती परपरत्या दुरी | "takes hand-to-hand — para-paratā — far" |
| एकाएकीं तेथें नाहीं दुसरें भिन्न | "in the one — no second-different" |
| एका नारायणा वांचून | "one Nārāyaṇa — alone" |
What it means
A deva-arranges-secret-tryst-with-non-dual-closing abhang. Four claims:
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कळों नेदी माया त्याचें त्यास ठाउकें — खेळतोंसें दावी लक्षलक्षापें मुकें — doesn't let māyā know — His own knows His own — plays-and-shows silent to lakhs of lakṣa. The opening-secrecy-claim: the deva does not letmāyā(the world's deception, or the gōpī's-husband-of-illusion) know; His own (bhakta) knows His own (deva); He plays and shows (the līlā), silent to lakhs upon lakhs (of others-not-the-bhakta). The deva's-līlā is selectively-revealed.
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काया वाचा मनें रूपीं गुंतल्या वासना — एकांताचें सुख जाती घेवोनियां राणा — kāyā-vāca-mana — vāsanā stuck in rūpa — takes ekānta-sukha — rāṇā goes. The body-speech-mind absorbed: body, speech, mind — thevāsanāstuck in therūpa(form, of the deva); takes theekānta-sukha (joy of being-alone-together); therāṇā(king, the deva) goes. The deva-as-king-going-for-secret-meeting.
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कळों नेदी घरिच्या करी गोवूनी चोरी — हातोहातीं नेती परपरत्या दुरी — doesn't let homemates know — does cōrī by gōvī — hand-to-hand takes — para-paratā far. The secret-tryst image: doesn't let the homemates know; doescōrī(theft, here = stealing-away) bygōvī(entanglement); takes the bhakta hand-to-hand,para-paratā(beyond-the-beyond), far. (Para-paratā — beyond-the-beyond, recurring Tukaram phrase; cf. 386.)
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एकाएकीं तेथें नाहीं दुसरें भिन्न — तुका म्हणे एका नारायणा वांचून — in the one — no second-different — Tuka says: one Nārāyaṇa alone. The closing-non-dual-claim: in theēkāēkīm(oneness) — there is no second-different; Tuka says: oneNārāyaṇaalone. The secret-tryst is non-dual-union; notbhakta and devabut onlyNārāyaṇa. (Compare 354 all is one's vīṇa, where is bhinna-abhinna; same non-dual register inside Vaiṣṇava-bhakti-frame.)
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For someone today
This abhang describes God arranging a secret meeting with the devotee, hidden even from the illusion of the everyday world, known only between the two of them, while he plays his game silently in front of countless others who never notice. Body, speech, and mind all become fixed on his form, and the soul is carried off into a private joy that the household never learns about, stolen away hand to hand, taken far beyond the ordinary. But the poem's real turn comes at the end: this secret closeness is not really two beings meeting at all. There is no separate self having a private tryst with a separate God, Tukaram says, there is only the one Narayana. The lesson is that the deepest moments of devotion, however hidden and personal they feel, are not proof of two, but a glimpse of the truth that you and the divine were never really separate to begin with.
मराठी: या अभंगात देव भक्ताशी एक गुप्त भेट घडवतो, जी रोजच्या जगाच्या मायेपासूनही लपलेली असते, फक्त त्या दोघांनाच माहीत असते, आणि तो अनेकांसमोर आपला खेळ करत असतो तरी बाकीच्यांना त्याची जाणीवही होत नाही. काया, वाचा आणि मन त्याच्या रूपात पूर्णपणे गुंतून जातात, आणि जीव एका एकांतिक सुखात ओढला जातो, जे घरातल्या इतरांना कधीच कळत नाही, हातोहात लपून, फार दूरवर घेऊन जातं. पण या अभंगाचं खरं वळण शेवटी येतं. ही गुप्त जवळीक म्हणजे दोन वेगळ्या जीवांची भेट नाही. वेगळा भक्त आणि वेगळा देव असं इथे काहीच नाही, तुकाराम म्हणतात, इथे फक्त एकच नारायण आहे. यातून शिकवण अशी की, भक्तीचे सगळ्यात खोल, गुप्त आणि वैयक्तिक वाटणारे क्षणही दोन वेगळेपणाचा पुरावा नसतात, तर तुम्ही आणि देव खरं तर कधीच वेगळे नव्हता याची झलक असतात.
Where this applies
- Līlāhidden frommāyā, revealed to bhakta. Selective-revelation.
- Vāsanāstuck inrūpa. Bhakti-stuck-desire.
- Ekānta-sukha; secret tryst. Don't expect public.
- Para-paratā far. Beyond-the-beyond reach.
- One Nārāyaṇa alone. Non-dual depth.