Abhanga 541

Time consumes every form, but the seed of life stays hidden inside and returns to its one source, and the deepest mystery of existence cannot be grasped by ordinary reasoning.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A kāḷa-eats-all-form-ananta-riddle abhang. Cosmological-meditation register. Three claims:

1. काळें खादला हा अवघा आकार — उत्पित्तसंहारघडमोडी — kāḷa eaten whole ākāra — utpatti-samhāra-ghaḍa-mōḍī. The opening-cosmological-claim: kāḷa (time) has eaten (khādalā) this whole ākāra (form, manifested-shape);utpatti-samhāra-ghaḍa-mōḍī(creation-destruction-making-breaking) — the cycle.Time-eats-all-form-as-cycle.

2. वीज तो अंकुर आच्छादिला पोटीं — अनंता सेवटीं एकाचिया — bīja-ankura hidden in pōṭa — ananta — sēvaṭīm — of one. The seed-sprout-hidden-claim: thebīja(seed) andankura(sprout) are ācchādilā (covered, hidden) in the pōṭa (belly, inside);at the sēvaṭīm (end) of the ananta (infinite, endless);of one (ēkācīyā).Seed-and-sprout-hidden-inside; the-end-of-the-infinite-is-of-one.Cosmic-cyclical-image: even after time-eats-the-form, the seed-and-sprout remain hidden inside; from-the-one-the-many-arise-and-return.

3. तुका म्हणे शब्दें व्यापिलें आकाश — गुढार हें तैसें कळों नये — Tuka says: śabda pervaded ākāśa — guḍhāra not kaḷōm like-that. The closing-riddle-claim: Tuka says: theākāśa(sky, space) isvyāpilē(pervaded) byśabda(sound, word); thisguḍhāra(riddle, mystery, secret) — is notkaḷōm(knowable) like-that. Word-pervades-space-but-the-riddle-isn't-knowable-by-ordinary-means. Mystery-cannot-be-grasped-by-ordinary-knowing. (The śabda-vyāpilē-ākāśa image: sound-pervades-space because space is the guṇa-of-śabda in Sānkhya / Vaiśeṣika; here the cosmological-claim becomes a metaphor for the riddle that-pervades-everything-but-isn't-graspable.)

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For someone today

Time eats every form you can see: bodies, houses, achievements, even the shape of your own life. Tukaram says don't grieve this, because underneath the eaten form the seed and the sprout are still hidden inside, waiting, and everything that comes from the infinite eventually returns to the one source. Then he pulls back and admits something humbling: sound may fill all of space the way the divine fills the world, but this mystery cannot be understood by ordinary thinking, no matter how clever the explanation sounds. Some things you are meant to sit with, not solve.

मराठी: काळ हा दिसणाऱ्या प्रत्येक रूपाला खाऊन टाकतो, शरीर असो, घर असो किंवा आयुष्यातली एखादी उपलब्धी असो. तुकाराम महाराज म्हणतात की यामुळे दुःखी होऊ नये, कारण नष्ट झालेल्या रूपाच्या आत बीज आणि अंकुर लपलेलेच असतात आणि अनंतातून आलेले सगळे शेवटी त्या एकाच मूळ स्रोताकडे परत जाते. मग ते एक नम्र गोष्ट सांगतात, शब्द जसा सगळ्या आकाशात भरून राहतो तसाच परमेश्वर या जगात भरून राहिला आहे, पण हे रहस्य साध्या बुद्धीने समजण्यासारखे नाही. काही गोष्टी सोडवायच्या नसतात, फक्त स्वीकाराव्या लागतात.

Where this applies

• Time eats form. Impermanence-cycle.
• Bīja-ankurainpōṭa. Seed-survives.
• Ananta ends in one. From-one-to-one.
• Guḍhāra not knowable. Metaphysical-humility.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2477 — Like a child too absorbed in play to notice how tired he is, let go and trust the parent c
• Abhanga 2481 — Pandharpur surpasses even the greatest pilgrimage cities because people there set aside pr