Abhanga 660

The body is at once a storehouse of suffering and the very vessel through which the highest is reached, so neither pamper it nor punish it, simply turn it toward devotion.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A śarīra-as-storehouse-of-duḥkha-and-vessel-of-para-Brahma-paradox-and-Tuka-says-rush-Hari-bhajan abhang. The structure holds two voices in tension — body-as-vessel-of-suffering AND body-as-vessel-of-attainment — across five paradox-stanzas, then resolves into the don't-overpamper-don't-mortify discipline.

1. Body — storehouse of duḥkha; treasury of rōga; resting-place of durgandhī. Negative-list-1: kōṭhāra of duḥkha, bhāṇḍāra of rōga, thāra of durgandhī; nothing asapavitraas the body. Body-as-suffering-disease-foulness-storehouse.

2. Body — superlative-good; cluster of sukha; sādhya achieved by body; para-Brahma attained by body. Positive-list-1: body isutama-cāngalē;cluster (ghōmsulē) of sukha;by body sādhya is achieved; by bodypara-Brahmawas-attained. Body-as-vessel-of-sādhya-and-para-Brahma.

3. Body — aḷē of viṭāḷa; māyā-mōha-pāśa-jāḷa; patana from body's mūḷa; kāḷa pervades. Negative-list-2: aḷē (festering / ulcer) of viṭāḷa (impurity); māyā-mōha-pāśa-jāḷa (the net of māyā-attachment-noose); patana (fall) is from-the-body's-root;the body is pervaded by kāḷa (time / darkness).Body-as-māyā-net-and-fall-source.

4. Body — sakaḷa-śuddha; nidha-of-nidhi; bhava-bandha breaks; deva dwelling-middle enjoys. Positive-list-2: body —sakaḷa-śuddha(entirely-pure); thenidha(treasure) ofnidhīm(treasures);by body, bhava-bandha (the bondage of becoming) breaks;the deva dwelling-in-the-middle enjoys the body.Body-as-treasure-of-treasures-and-deva's-dwelling.

5. Body — avidyā-construction; avaguṇa-cooking; much bādhā; not-one good-quality. Negative-list-3: avidyā-bāṇdhā (the body is avidyā's-construction); avaguṇa-rāṇdhā (the cooking-place of avaguṇa); muchbādhā(affliction); not-even-one good-quality. Body-as-avidyā-construct-and-avaguṇa-cooking.

6. Don't give body duḥkha-bhoga; don't give sukha; don't make tyāga; neither bad nor good — Tuka says: rush into Hari-bhajan. The closing-discipline: don't give the bodyduḥkha-bhoga(the experience of duḥkha); don't give itsukhaeither, don't maketyāga(renunciation); neither bad nor good (= the body is in itself neither good nor bad — both lists are true at-the-same-time); Tuka says: rush intoHari-bhajan. Don't-pamper-don't-mortify; the only discipline isHari-bhajan. (This is a remarkable middle-path-resolution: the body is both duḥkha-kōṭhāra AND para-Brahma-vessel, so the right relation is neither-pampering-nor-mortification — direct Hari-bhajan.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram holds two truths about the body at once. It is a storehouse of suffering, disease, and impurity, so foul that nothing seems as unclean. And yet it is also the very thing through which the highest goal, even God himself, is reached and enjoyed. Since both are equally true, he says don't waste time indulging the body with comforts, and don't waste time punishing or denying it either. Simply use it, right now, to turn toward devotion -- that is the one useful thing to do with an imperfect, complicated body.

मराठी: तुकाराम शरीराबद्दल दोन गोष्टी एकाच वेळी खऱ्या मानतात. शरीर हे दुःखाचे, रोगाचे आणि अशुद्धतेचे भांडार आहे, इतके की यापेक्षा अपवित्र काहीच नाही असे वाटावे. आणि तरीही हेच शरीर असे साधन आहे ज्याद्वारे सर्वोच्च ध्येय, अगदी देवसुद्धा, प्राप्त होतो आणि अनुभवता येतो. दोन्ही गोष्टी सारख्याच खऱ्या असल्यामुळे ते म्हणतात, शरीराचे लाड करण्यात वेळ घालवू नका आणि त्याला शिक्षा देण्यात किंवा नाकारण्यातही वेळ घालवू नका. आत्ताच्या क्षणी फक्त त्याचा उपयोग भक्तीकडे वळण्यासाठी करा, हेच या अपूर्ण आणि गुंतागुंतीच्या शरीराचे खरे प्रयोजन आहे.

Where this applies

• Duḥkha-kōṭhāra. Negative.
• Sukha-ghōmsulē—para-Brahma. Positive.
• Avidyā-bāṇdhā—avaguṇa-rāṇdhā. Negative.
• Don't-pamper-don't-mortify. Discipline.
• Vēga karī Hari-bhajanīm. Resolution.

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