Abhanga 407

Real devotion isn't reached by force but by love, it is a two-way bond, and part of it will always be too deep for words.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A short deva-piśā-udārā (deva-mad-generous) abhang. Four claims:

1. हरिरता चपळा नारी — लागवरी न रिघती — Hari-loving fickle-women — don't reach in lāgavarī. The opening-paradox: the Hari-loving fickle-women (gōpīs) — do not reach Him inlāgavarī(head-on, directly). They reach obliquely; not by direct-approach. Bhakti often goes side-on, not head-on.

2. अवघ्या अंगें सर्वोत्तम — भोगी काम भोगता — with the entire body — Sarvōttama — enjoys His enjoyer. The enjoyment-claim: with the entire body, theSarvōttama(All-Best, deva) — enjoys His enjoyer. The deva is enjoyer-of-the-bhakta and the bhakta is enjoyer-of-the-deva, simultaneously. Reciprocal-bhōga.

3. वाचा वाच्यत्वासि न ये — कोठें काय करावें — speech doesn't come to vācyatva — where, what to do? The ineffability-claim: speech does not come tovācyatva(sayability); where, what to do? (Compare 398 gōḍa lāgē parī sāngatām ci na yē; same ineffability claim.)

4. तुका म्हणे देवा ऐशा — देवपिशा उदारा — Tuka says: to such deva — deva-piśā udārā. The closing-paradoxical-address: to such a deva — deva-piśā (the deva-as-mad),udārā(generous). The deva is mad-and-generous; the bhakta sees both qualities at once.

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For someone today

Those who love God most dearly rarely reach him by force or a direct, head-on approach — devotion tends to find him sideways, through love rather than effort. What passes between God and devotee is not one-sided either: he delights in the one who delights in him, so think of it as a mutual enjoyment, not something you alone are working toward. Some of what happens in that bond simply cannot be put into words, so don't strain to explain it — let some of it stay unspoken. And in the end, God himself is a paradox: wildly, almost madly in love, and endlessly generous, both at once.

मराठी: ज्यांना हरीवर खरं प्रेम आहे ते त्याच्यापर्यंत बळाने किंवा थेट मार्गाने पोचत नाहीत — भक्ती अनेकदा आडवळणाने, प्रयत्नाने नव्हे तर प्रेमाने पोचते. देव आणि भक्त यांच्यातलं नातंही एकतर्फी नसतं — जो त्याच्यावर प्रेम करतो त्याच्यावरही तो प्रेम करतो, म्हणून हा परस्पर आनंदाचा संबंध आहे, फक्त एकट्याने साधायची गोष्ट नाही. या नात्यातलं बरंचसं शब्दांत मावत नाही, त्यामुळे ते समजावून सांगण्याचा अट्टहास धरू नका — काही गोष्टी अव्यक्तच राहू द्या. आणि शेवटी देव स्वतःच एक विरोधाभास आहे — वेडा, भरभरून प्रेम करणारा आणि तितकाच उदार, दोन्ही एकाच वेळी.

Where this applies

• Hari-lovers don't reach head-on. Oblique-approach.
• Sarvōttama enjoys His enjoyer. Reciprocal-bhōga.
• Speech fails vācyatva. Ineffable.
• Deva-piśā udārā. Mad-generous.

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