Abhanga 406

Once real devotion takes hold, don't let gossip or social propriety pull you back from it.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A gōpī-resolves-not-to-go-back-pierced-by-kāma-bāṇa abhang. Six claims:

1. आता न यें मागें — मी आलें याच्या रागें — काय माझें जगें कोपोनियां करावें — now won't go back — came in His rāga — what can my world being angry do? The opening-resolve: won't go back; came in Hisrāga(intense-love / passion); what can the world do, being angry? Resolve in the face of social-disapproval.

2. कां गो कलित्यां कोल्हाल — तुम्ही भलत्या च सकल वेचाल ते बोल झुटे होती बोलिले — why this kalitya commotion? — you all useless bōla — jhuṭē said. The dismissal-of-gossip: why all thiskalitya(gossip-noise)? — you'll spend useless words; what is said isjhuṭē(lies). Don't dignify the gossip.

3. याचे भेटी माझें मन स्वरुपीं ठाकले लोचन — वेगळें तें क्षण आतां होऊं नावरे — with His bhēṭi, mana-lōcana set in svarūpa — vēgaḷē even kṣaṇa cannot be. The absorption-claim: with His meeting, mind and eyes set in Hissvarūpa; cannot bevēgaḷē(separate) even for akṣaṇa.

4. काज काम नको जालें बीजें नावरे बोलिलें — याचिया भेदिलें कामबाणीं अंतर — no need kāj-kāma — bījē exhausted bōlilē — pierced by kāma-bāṇa — antara. The piercing-claim: no need for work-tasks; thebījē(seeds, root-words) are exhausted; Hiskāma-bāṇa(love-arrow / Kāma's-arrow) pierced theantara. Even speech-roots gone; pierced by love-arrow.

5. या वेगळें होणें आतां जळो तैसें जिणें — घेतलें तें मनें आतां मागें न फिरे — separation now — let jiṇē burn — what mana has taken — won't go back. The resolve-of-no-return: if I am to be separate from Him, let life burn; what themanahas taken — won't go back. No-return-resolve.

6. आतां मोटी वार माझी नका धरूं चार — तुकयाचा दातार शेजे तो मी सुतलों — big vāra — don't keep my cāra — Tukya's dātāra — I sleep on His sēja. The closing-claim: the bigvāra(turn / departure) now; don't keep mycāra(four-fold restraint, social-decorum); Tuka'sdātāra— I sleep on Hissēja(bed). Decorum-restraint dropped; sleeps on the deva's bed.

[T]

For someone today

This verse voices a fierce, unapologetic resolve: once love for the divine has taken hold, there's no going back to the old life, whatever the world says. The speaker refuses to let gossip and disapproval matter; harsh words directed at her are simply untrue and not worth answering. Her mind and eyes are so fixed on him that she cannot bear even a moment's separation, and she would rather let ordinary life burn than retreat from what she has found. She lets go of the social propriety expected of her, because the bond she has found matters more than appearances.

मराठी: ही ओवी एका ठाम आणि निर्भीड निर्धाराची आहे. एकदा मनात खरी ओढ निर्माण झाली की मागे वळणं शक्य नसतं, जग काहीही म्हणो. गॉसिप, टीका, अपप्रचार या सगळ्याला ती किंमत देत नाही; लोक जे बोलतात ते खोटं आहे असं ती स्पष्ट सांगते. तिचं मन आणि डोळे त्याच्यावर इतके स्थिर झाले आहेत की एक क्षणभरही वेगळं राहणं तिला सहन होत नाही. त्याहून वेगळं होण्यापेक्षा हे साधं जगणं जळून जावं असं ती म्हणते, आणि समाजाने घालून दिलेली मर्यादा, शिष्टाचार ती सोडून देते, कारण जे नातं तिला सापडलं आहे ते या सगळ्यापेक्षा मोठं आहे.

Where this applies

• Came in His rāga; can't reverse. Bhakti-impulse-from-deva.
• Don't dignify kalitya. Public-gossip is jhuṭē.
• Mana-lōcana set in svarūpa. Continuous-darśana.
• Kāma-bāṇapiercedantara. No extraction.
• Drop cāra; sleep on His sēja. Bhakta-final-rest.

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