Abhanga 503

After receiving grace, Tukaram admits he prays partly for his own protection, yet insists that sharing such intimacy with God, like shared leftovers, means there is no longer any separation between them.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A prasāda-received-deva-rest-going-home-no-separation abhang. Continuation of the night-sequence. The ucchiṣṭa-bhōjana image is striking: the deva has eaten the bhakta's leftovers (or the bhakta has eaten the deva's leftovers) — the line of separation has dissolved. Four claims:

1. पावला प्रसाद आतां विटोनि जावें — आपला तो श्रम कळों येतसे जीवें — prasāda received — now viṭōnī jāvē — Your śrama felt in jīvēm. The opening-departure: theprasāda(deva's-grace, blessed-food-after-offering) has been pāvalā (received);now we should viṭōnī jāvē (turn-and-go);Your śrama (fatigue) — kaḷōm yētasē jīvēm (is being-known by my jīva).I-feel-Your-tiredness. Bhakta-empathy-with-deva-fatigue.

2. आतां स्वामी सुखें निद्रा करा गोपाळा — पुरले मनोरथ जातों आपुलिया स्थळा — now Svāmī sleep happily Gopāḷa — manōratha fulfilled — going to our sthaḷa. The farewell-claim: Svāmī — sleep happily, Gopāḷa; themanōratha(heart-wishes, hopes) arepuralē(fulfilled, filled-up); we are going toāpulīyā sthaḷa(our own place). Wishes-fulfilled-bhakta-departs-to-his-own-place.

3. तुम्हांसि जागवूं आम्ही आपुलिया चाडा — शुभाशुभ कर्में दोष वाराया पीडा — we wake You for our own cāḍa — to ward off śubhāśubha-karma-dōṣa-pīḍā. The honest-motive-claim: we wake You for our owncāḍa(regard, eagerness, need / interest); tovārāyā(ward off) thepīḍā(affliction) ofśubhāśubha-karma-dōṣa(good-and-bad karma's defects). We-disturb-You-for-our-own-protection-from-karma. Honest-bhakta-recognition-of-self-interest.

4. तुका म्हणे दिलें उच्छिष्टाचें भोजन — आम्हां आपुलिया नाहीं निवडिलें भिन्न — Tuka says: gave the ucchiṣṭa-bhōjana — between us-and-You no bhinna. The closing-no-separation-claim: Tuka says: gave theucchiṣṭa-bhōjana(the leftover-meal); between us-and-You — nonivaḍilē bhinna(separation, separate-ness). The deva-bhakta have shared leftovers, which means they-are-not-bhinna (separate). Ucchiṣṭa-bhōjana-as-non-separation-claim. (In Indian convention, leftovers are normally aśuddha and not-shared; sharing-leftovers is reserved for husband-wife, mother-child, guru-śiṣya. Here Tuka invokes that level of intimacy with the deva.)

[T]

For someone today

Having received the blessed food, Tukaram says it is time to go, and he can actually feel God's tiredness in his own body, as if the two of them shared one weariness. He tells God to sleep well now that his own heart's wishes are fulfilled, and he heads home. Then he admits something startlingly honest: he wakes God up partly out of his own need, to be protected from the weight of his good and bad actions, not out of pure selflessness. He closes by saying that he and God have shared the same leftover food, the kind of closeness normally kept only between husband and wife or teacher and student, which means there is no real separation between them anymore.

मराठी: प्रसाद मिळाल्यावर तुकाराम म्हणतात, आता निघायची वेळ झाली, आणि त्यांना देवाचा थकवा जणू स्वतःच्या जिवात जाणवतो, दोघांचा थकवा एकच असल्यासारखा. ते देवाला सुखाने झोपायला सांगतात, कारण त्यांच्या मनातील इच्छा पूर्ण झाल्या आहेत, आणि ते आपल्या घरी परत जातात. मग ते एक आश्चर्यकारकपणे प्रामाणिक गोष्ट कबूल करतात, ते देवाला काही अंशी स्वतःच्या गरजेसाठी जागे ठेवतात, आपल्या बऱ्या-वाईट कर्मांच्या दोषांपासून वाचण्यासाठी, केवळ निःस्वार्थ भावनेने नाही. शेवटी ते सांगतात की त्यांनी आणि देवाने एकाच उष्ट्या अन्नाची देवाणघेवाण केली आहे, जी जवळीक सहसा फक्त पती-पत्नी किंवा गुरु-शिष्य यांच्यातच असते, याचा अर्थ त्यांच्यात आता खरी वेगळीक उरलेली नाही.

Where this applies

• Feel deva's śrama. Empathy.
• Depart when manōratha fulfilled. Closure.
• Honest cāḍa-motive. Self-interest-recognized.
• Ucchiṣṭa-bhōjana— nobhinna. Leftovers-intimacy.

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