Abhanga 677
Once genuine discernment separates the essential from the worldly, like butter from buttermilk or a pearl from its shell, the two cannot mix again.
The verse
बाहिर पडिलों आपुल्या कर्तव्यें । संसारासि जीवें वेटाळिलों ॥१॥ एकामध्यें एक नाहीं मिळो येत । ताक नवनीत निवडीलें ॥ध्रु.॥ जालीं दोनी नामें एका चि मथनीं । दुसरिया गुणीं वेगळालीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे दाखविल्या मुक्ताफळीं । शिंपले चि स्वस्थळीं खुंटलिया ॥३॥
Literal translation
I have come-out by my own kartavya — left-samsāra-around with the jīva. One-from-the-other doesn't come-back together — tāka and navanīta are separated. Two nāmas came from one mathana — different now in different guṇa. Tuka says: when the mukta-phaḷa is shown — the śimpalē stays-pinned in its own place.
मराठी: आपल्या कर्तव्याने बाहिर पडलों — जीवें संसारासि वेटाळिलों. एका-त-दुसरें मिळून येत नाही — ताक-नवनीत निवडलें. एकाच मथनीं दोन नांवे झालीं — दुसऱ्या गुणीं वेगळालीं. Tuka म्हणे: मुक्ता-फळ दाखविल्यानंतर — शिंपले स्व-स्थळीं खुंटतो.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| बाहिर पडिलों आपुल्या कर्तव्यें | "bāhira paḍilōm — by my kartavya" |
| संसारासि जीवें वेटाळिलों | "samsāra — jīva — vēṭāḷilōm (left-around)" |
| एकामध्यें एक नाहीं मिळो येत | "one — to-one — doesn't miḷōm yēta (come-back together)" |
| ताक नवनीत निवडीलें | "tāka-navanīta — nivaḍilē (separated)" |
| जालीं दोनी नामें एका चि मथनीं | "two names — from one mathana (churning)" |
| दुसरिया गुणीं वेगळालीं | "different — in different guṇa" |
| दाखविल्या मुक्ताफळीं | "shown — mukta-phaḷa (pearl)" |
| शिंपले चि स्वस्थळीं खुंटलिया | "śimpalē — sva-sthaḷa — khuṇṭaliyā (stays-pinned)" |
What it means
A bāhira-paḍilōm-samsāra-vēṭāḷilōm-tāka-navanīta-mukta-phaḷa-Tuka abhang. Vedānta-discrimination-image register. The structure is two compact images:
-
बाहिर पडलों कर्तव्यें — संसार-jīva वेटाळिलों — एका-त-दुसरें मिळून येत नाही — ताक-नवनीत निवडलें. Buttermilk-butter-image. I have come-out by my ownkartavya (act, deliberate-doing); with thejīva, I havevēṭāḷilōm(left-around — circumambulated-and-departed) samsāra; one-from-the-other doesn't come-back together; tāka (buttermilk) and navanīta (butter) are nivaḍilē (separated).Once-the-churning-has-separated-them, butter-and-buttermilk-cannot-rejoin. (Themathana— churning — image: when thejīvachurns samsāra-experience deliberately, the butter — pure-essence — rises and the buttermilk-stuff falls away;they do not rejoin.)
-
दोन नांवे एकाच मथनीं — दुसरिया गुणी वेगळालीं — मुक्ता-फळ दाखविल्यावर — शिंपले स्व-स्थळी खुंटली. Pearl-shell-image. Two names came from onemathana; different now in differentguṇa; when themukta-phaḷa(pearl, the liberated-fruit) is shown; theśimpalē(shell / oyster) stays-pinned-fixed in its own place. Pearl-shown-shell-stays: when the pearl is taken out, the empty shell stays-fixed in the water-bed; the pearl-and-shell don't rejoin.
[T]
For someone today
Tukaram says he has stepped out of worldly life through his own deliberate choice, the way churning separates buttermilk from butter. Once that separation happens, the two do not mix back together. He gives a second image: when a pearl is drawn out of its shell and shown to the world, the empty shell stays fixed where it is; pearl and shell never rejoin. The lesson is that real discernment, once it happens, is not reversible. When you have honestly separated what matters from what does not, you do not have to keep refighting that battle.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की त्यांनी स्वतःच्या ठाम निर्णयाने संसारातून बाहेर पाऊल टाकले आहे, जसे घुसळण्याने ताकातून लोणी वेगळे होते. एकदा हे वेगळेपण झाले की दोन्ही परत मिसळत नाहीत. दुसरे उदाहरण देतात: शिंपल्यातून मोती काढून दाखवला की रिकामे शिंपले आपल्या जागी तसेच राहते, मोती आणि शिंपले पुन्हा एकत्र येत नाहीत. खरा विवेक एकदा झाला की तो परत फिरत नाही, हाच धडा आहे. जे खरोखर महत्त्वाचे आहे ते एकदा वेगळे ओळखले की तीच लढाई पुन्हा पुन्हा लढावी लागत नाही.
Where this applies
- Bāhira paḍilōm kartavyē. Coming-out.
- Tāka-navanīta. Buttermilk-butter.
- Mukta-phaḷa—śimpalē. Pearl-shell.
- Once-separated, no rejoin. Discrimination.