Abhanga 574

When a deep wish is finally fulfilled, words run out, because the experience is like a mute person tasting sugar, real and complete, but impossible to describe, and silence becomes the right response.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A wish-came-knot-tied-mute-tasted-sugar abhang. Beautiful silence-of-attainment register. Three claims:

1. इच्छावें तें जवळी आलें — काय बोलें कारण — wished — javaḷī ālē — kāraṇa to bōlē? The opening-wish-came-claim: what wasicchāvē(to-be-wished) — has come close (javaḷī ālē); what is thekāraṇa(cause / use / reason) to bōlē (speak)?Wish-fulfilled-no-cause-to-speak.

2. नामरूपीं पडिली गांठी — अवघ्या गोष्टी सरल्या — nāma-rūpa — gāmṭhī — gōṣṭi — saralyā. The knot-tied-matters-ended-claim: innāma-rūpa (name-and-form, the deva's-name-and-form) — the gāmṭhī (knot) was paḍilī (tied);all gōṣṭi (matters / topics / subjects-to-discuss) have saralyā (ended, are over).Knot-tied-in-the-name-and-form-everything-ends.No-more-topics-to-discuss.

3. मुकियाचे परी जीवीं — साकर जेवों खादली — तुका म्हणे काय बोलें — आतां भलें मौन्य ची — mukyā-cē parī — in jīva — sākara ate — what to bōlē? — now mauna good. The closing-mute-and-mauna-claim: in the way of themukyā(mute / dumb one) — in the jīva (inner-life);sākara(sugar) wasjēvōm khādalī(eaten as a meal); Tuka says: what tobōlē?; now —mauna(silence) isbhalē(good). The mute-tasted-sugar-only-his-jīva-knew-no-words-could-tell; now-the-only-good-is-silence. Bhakti-incommunicability-ends-in-mauna. (The muka-sākara image is one of the most-celebrated images in bhakti-poetry: the mute-eats-sugar; he experiences-the-sweetness but-cannot-tell.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram describes the moment when a long-held wish finally arrives so close that there's nothing left to say about it. Once the bond with the divine's name and form is tied, every other topic simply runs out, there is nothing more to discuss. He compares the experience to a mute person who has eaten sugar: the sweetness is real and felt completely, but there are no words to describe it to anyone else. So he ends with the simplest conclusion, now silence is the right response, not because there is nothing to feel, but because feeling this deep cannot be spoken.

मराठी: तुकाराम अशा क्षणाचे वर्णन करतात जेव्हा दीर्घकाळ बाळगलेली इच्छा इतकी जवळ येते की त्याबद्दल बोलण्यासारखे काही उरतच नाही. एकदा देवाच्या नाम-रूपाशी नाते जुळले की बाकीचे सगळे विषय आपोआप संपतात, अजून चर्चा करण्यासारखे काही राहत नाही. ते या अनुभवाची तुलना साखर खाणाऱ्या मुक्या माणसाशी करतात, गोडवा खराखुरा आणि पूर्णपणे जाणवलेला असतो, पण तो दुसऱ्याला सांगण्यासाठी शब्दच नसतात. म्हणून ते सगळ्यात साध्या निष्कर्षावर येतात, आता मौन हाच योग्य प्रतिसाद आहे, जाणवण्यासारखे काही नाही म्हणून नव्हे, तर इतके खोल जाणवलेले शब्दांत मावतच नाही म्हणून.

Where this applies

• Wish came; no speech. Fulfillment-silence.
• Nāma-rūpa knot. Topics-end.
• Muka-sākara. Incommunicability.
• Mauna is good. Final-mode.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with