Abhanga 395

Even amid family pressure and worldly difficulty, you are never alone, and inner closeness to the divine can coexist quietly with ordinary social life.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A bhakta-hidden-tryst-with-deva-and-deva-keeps-lōka-ācāra abhang. Four claims:

1. एकली न येतें मी ऐसें काय जाणें — कोठें भरलें अवघड या राणें — I don't come alone — what do I know? — where is the avaghaḍa filled in this rāṇē? The opening-confession: I don't come alone (= I am accompanied by Him); what do I know? — where in thisrāṇē(wilderness, the world) isavaghaḍa(difficult-place, danger) filled?

2. सासू दारुण सासरा आहे भारी — तुज मज सांगतां नाहीं उरी — sāsū dāruṇa, sasarā bhārī — no urī between you and me. The household-pressure-claim: the mother-in-law isdāruṇa(severe), the father-in-law isbhārī(heavy); yet between you and me, there is nourī(remnant, distance). Family-pressure outside; total-intimacy inside.

3. होतें अंतर तर सांपडतें कैसी — एकाएकीं अंगीं जडलासी — if there was antara — how would I get caught? — suddenly stuck to the body. The intimate-claim: if there wasantara(gap, distance) between us, how would I have been caught? Suddenly — You are stuck to my body. No-distance-explains-being-caught.

4. स्वामी तुकयाचा भोगिया चतुर — भोग भोगी त्यांचा राखे लोकाचार — Tukya's svāmī — chatura-bhōgi — enjoys their bhōga, keeps the lōka-ācāra. The closing-dual-claim: Tukya's lord ischatura-bhōgi(the clever enjoyer); enjoys theirbhōga— (yet) keeps thelōka-ācāra(worldly-conduct, social-form). The deva enjoys with the bhakta yet outwardly maintains social-propriety; both at once.

[T]

For someone today

You are never truly alone, even when the world around you feels harsh and full of difficulty — the divine travels with you through it. Pressure from family and society outside does not cancel the closeness you feel inside; both can be true at once. If God suddenly feels close, it is not strange — it is because there was never really any distance to begin with. And that closeness does not require you to abandon ordinary social life; it can be enjoyed quietly while you still keep up outward propriety and daily responsibilities.

मराठी: तुम्ही खरोखर कधीच एकटे नसता, जरी सभोवतालचे जग कठोर आणि अवघड वाटले तरी — परमेश्वर त्या वाटेवर तुमच्यासोबत असतो. घरातून किंवा समाजातून येणारा दबाव आतल्या जवळिकीला पुसून टाकत नाही; दोन्ही गोष्टी एकाच वेळी खऱ्या असू शकतात. जर अचानक देव जवळ वाटला, तर त्यात नवल नाही — कारण खरे तर कधी अंतरच नव्हते. आणि ही जवळीक अनुभवण्यासाठी सामाजिक जीवन सोडून द्यावे लागत नाही; बाह्य व्यवहार आणि रोजची कर्तव्ये सांभाळतानाही ती आतून शांतपणे जपता येते.

Where this applies

• You don't come alone. Companioned in the rāṇē.
• External-pressure ≠ inner-intimacy disruption. Both hold.
• No antara explains catching. Deva-stuck-because-of-no-distance.
• Deva is chatura-bhōgi; keeps lōka-ācāra. Both inner and outer.

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