संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 536 of 4582

Abhanga 536

Once you've found your one true relationship with the divine, nothing else really pulls at you, and there is no point in chattering about things that don't matter. Tukaram says he has come to see that ordinary pleasure and ordinary pain are really the same thing, and that virtue and sin both just keep you tied to the same wheel of worldly life. So he has given his voice entirely to God, and beyond that he has nothing left to say. Find the one thing that actually matters, stop mistaking fleeting comforts and moral scorekeeping for real freedom, and let your words serve that one purpose.

When the bhakta has no regard for anything else — and you have to recognize this register

When sukha and dukkha, puṇya and pāpa, are equally true (= equally entangling) — and you accept this insight

When speech is vowed to Anamta — no more speaking — and you receive this vow

The verse

आतां येणेंविण नाहीं आम्हां चाड । कोण बडबड करी वांयां ॥१॥ सुख तें चि दुःख पुण्यपाप खरें । हें तों आम्हां बरें कळों आलें ॥ध्रु.॥ तुका म्हणे वाचा वाईली अनंता । बोलायाचें आतां काम नाहीं ॥३॥

Literal translation

Now — without this — no cāḍa — who baḍa-baḍa in vain? Sukha itself is dukkha — puṇya-pāpa — true — well-known to us. Tuka says: vāca — vowed — to Anamta — speaking — no kāma now.

मराठी: आतां येणेंविण नाहीं आम्हां चाड — कोण बडबड करी वांयां?. सुख तें चि दुःख पुण्यपाप खरें — हें तों आम्हां बरें कळों आलें. तुकाराम म्हणतां — वाचा वाईली अनंता — बोलायाचें आतां काम नाहीं.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
आतां येणेंविण नाहीं आम्हां चाड	"now — without this — no cāḍa"
कोण बडबड करी वांयां	"who baḍa-baḍa — in vain?"
सुख तें चि दुःख पुण्यपाप खरें	"sukha — itself dukkha — puṇya-pāpa — true"
हें तों आम्हां बरें कळों आलें	"this — well known to us"
वाचा वाईली अनंता	"vāca — vowed — Anamta"
बोलायाचें आतां काम नाहीं	"speaking — no kāma now"

What it means

A short no-cāḍa-without-this-vāca-vowed-to-Anamta abhang. Closure-of-speech register. Three claims:

आतां येणेंविण नाहीं आम्हां चाड — कोण बडबड करी वांयां — now — without this — no cāḍa — who baḍa-baḍa in vain? The opening-no-other-cāḍa-claim: now — without this (the deva-relationship) — we have nocāḍa(regard, eagerness); whobaḍa-baḍa(chatters, babbles)vāyām(in-vain)? No-other-interest, no-vain-chatter.
सुख तें चि दुःख पुण्यपाप खरें — हें तों आम्हां बरें कळों आलें — sukha itself is dukkha — puṇya-pāpa — true — well-known to us. The insight-claim: sukhaitself isdukkha (= the worldly-pleasure is itself worldly-pain because it perpetuates samsāra);puṇya-pāpa— true (= both puṇya and pāpa are equally-real-and-equally-binding; both keep one in samsāra);this is well-kaḷōm (come-to-know) for us.Sukha-equals-dukkha; puṇya-equals-pāpa-as-binding.Both-pairs-collapse-as-samsāra-fuel. (Compare the standard Indian teaching that even-puṇya keeps one-bound; only-bhakti-or-jñāna releases.)
तुका म्हणे वाचा वाईली अनंता — बोलायाचें आतां काम नाहीं — Tuka says: vāca vowed to Anamta — speaking — no kāma now. The closing-vow-of-speech: Tuka says: thevāca(speech) has beenvāhilī(offered, vowed, dedicated) toAnamta(the Endless = the deva); speaking has nokāma(work, use) now. Vāca-vowed-to-Anamta; no-more-speaking. The bhakta's speech is now-only-for-Anamta; the ordinary-speaking is finished. (This is striking from Tukaram, the most-prolific-poet of his age: even-the-poet vows-his-speech-only-to-the-deva.)

[T]

For someone today

मराठी: एकदा देवाशी खरं नातं जोडलं की मग इतर कशातच रस उरत नाही आणि उगीच बडबड करण्यात अर्थ राहत नाही. तुकाराम म्हणतात की सुख आणि दुःख हे शेवटी एकच आहेत, आणि पुण्य व पाप हे दोन्हीही आपल्याला संसाराच्या फेऱ्यातच अडकवून ठेवतात. म्हणून त्यांनी आपली वाणी पूर्णपणे देवाला अर्पण केली आहे आणि आता बोलण्यासारखं काही उरलेलं नाही. आयुष्यात खरोखर महत्त्वाचं काय आहे ते ओळखा, क्षणिक सुख आणि नैतिक हिशोब यांना खरं स्वातंत्र्य समजण्याची चूक करू नका आणि आपले शब्द त्या एका ध्येयासाठीच वापरा.

Where this applies

No-other cāḍa. Single-focus.
Sukha-cī-dukkha;puṇya-pāpa equally-binding. Non-dual-insight.
Vācavowed toAnamta. Speech-vow.
No more speaking. End-of-vain-chatter.

Bhakti sukha-itself-is-dukkha