संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 481 of 4582

Abhanga 481

Tukaram reframes the body's decline near death not as failure but as the closing festival of a life spent in devotion, where only the divine form remains and the heart finally rests full.

When the body has wasted and this very wasting is the līlita-festival — and you have to recognize this register
When at the avasāna (final-end), the rūpa stays in the mānasa — and you accept this final-state
When the belly is fed in Nārāyaṇa — and you receive this closing-fulfillment

The verse

गळित जाली काया । हें चि लळित पंढरिराया ॥१॥ आलें अवसानापासीं । रूप राहिलें मानसीं ॥ध्रु.॥ वाइला कळस । तेथें स्थिरावला रस ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे गोड जालें । नारायणीं पोट धालें ॥३॥

Literal translation

Kāyā gaḷita — this itself — līlita — Pandharī-rāyā. Come to avasāna — rūpa stays in mānasa. Kalaśa placed — rasa settled. Tuka says: gōḍa became — pōṭa dhālē in Nārāyaṇa.

मराठी: गळित जाली काया — हें चि लळित पंढरिराया. आलें अवसानापासीं — रूप राहिलें मानसीं. वाइला कळस — तेथें स्थिरावला रस. तुकाराम म्हणतां — गोड जालें — नारायणीं पोट धालें.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
गळित जाली काया "kāyā — gaḷita"
हें चि लळित पंढरिराया "this itself — līlita — Pandharī-rāyā"
आलें अवसानापासीं "come to avasāna"
रूप राहिलें मानसीं "rūpa — stays in mānasa"
वाइला कळस तेथें स्थिरावला रस "kalaśa placed — rasa settled"
तुका म्हणे गोड जालें "gōḍa became"
नारायणीं पोट धालें "pōṭa dhālē in Nārāyaṇa"

What it means

A body-wasted-this-is-the-final-līlita abhang. Līlita — festival-closing rite / completion-celebration. The body's-wasting is reframed as the closing-festival of the bhakti-pilgrimage. Three claims:

  1. गळित जाली काया — हें चि लळित पंढरिराया — kāyā gaḷita — this itself is the līlita, Pandharī-rāyā. The opening-reframe: the body has wasted away (= becomegaḷita, dripping-and-shrinking — through age or illness); this very wasting is thelīlita(closing-festival), Pandharī-rāyā. Body-wasting-as-festival, not as failure.

  2. आलें अवसानापासीं — रूप राहिलें मानसीं — come to avasāna — rūpa stays in mānasa. The final-state-claim: (I have) come to theavasāna(the final-end / death's-edge); therūpa(the deva's form) — stays in themānasa(mind / inner-being). At death's-edge, only the deva-rūpa remains in mind.

  3. वाइला कळस — तेथें स्थिरावला रस — तुका म्हणे गोड जालें — नारायणीं पोट धालें — kalaśa placed — rasa settled — Tuka says: gōḍa became — pōṭa dhālē in Nārāyaṇa. The closing-festival-completion claim: thekalaśa(the final-pot — placed at the top of a temple-tower or at the end of a yajña / pilgrimage) has been placed;there the rasa (juice / essence)has settled; Tuka says: it has becomegōḍa(sweet); thepōṭa(belly) isdhālē(filled / sated) inNārāyaṇa. Final-fulfillment-in-Nārāyaṇa.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram speaks of his own body wasting away with age or illness, and instead of mourning it, he calls it a closing festival, the final celebration of a long pilgrimage. As he nears the end, everything else falls away, and only the form of the divine remains fixed in his mind. He compares this to the final pot placed atop a temple, where all the sweetness of the journey finally settles and is tasted. In the end, he says, his hunger is satisfied, his heart is full, in God.

मराठी: तुकाराम स्वतःच्या शरीराच्या क्षीण होण्याबद्दल बोलतात, वृद्धत्वामुळे किंवा आजारपणामुळे, आणि त्याचा शोक न करता ते त्याला जीवनयात्रेचा शेवटचा उत्सव म्हणतात. अंत जवळ येताच बाकी सगळं गळून पडतं आणि फक्त देवाचं रूप मनात स्थिर राहतं. याची तुलना ते मंदिराच्या शिखरावरच्या शेवटच्या कळसाशी करतात, जिथे प्रवासातला सगळा गोडवा शेवटी स्थिरावतो आणि चाखला जातो. शेवटी, ते म्हणतात, त्यांची भूक शमली, त्यांचं मन नारायणात तृप्त झालं.

Where this applies

Bhakti

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