संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 971 of 4582

Abhanga 971

English: Pōṭa — fill.

When should we fill belly and call ourselves bhakta? — and you have to recognize this register
When tell one vicāra; I am very anguished — and you accept this image
When should I make poetry into custom; join letter-to-letter? — and you allow this image

The verse

काय आतां आम्हीं पोट चि भरावें । जग चाळवावें भक्त म्हुण ॥१॥ ऐसा तरि एक सांगा जी विचार । बहु होतों फार कासावीस ॥ध्रु.॥ काय कवित्वाची घालूनियां रूढी । करूं जोडाजोडी अक्षरांची ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे काय गुंपोनि दुकाना । राहों नारायणा करुनी घात ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Pōṭa — fill. Jaga — bhakta. Vicāra. Kāsā-vīsa. Kavitva — rūḍhi — jōḍā-jōḍī — akṣara. Tuka says: gumpōni — dukāna — Nārāyaṇa — ghāta.

मराठी: काय आतां आम्हीं पोट-च भरावें — जग चाळवावें भक्त म्हणून?. ऐसा तरि एक विचार सांगा — बहु होतों फार कासा-वीस. काय कवित्वाची रूढी घालूनियां — अक्षरांची जोडा-जोडी करूं?. Tuka म्हणे: काय दुकाना गुंपोनि — Nārāyaṇा, घात करुनी राहों?.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
काय आतां आम्हीं पोट चि भरावें "pōṭa — fill"
जग चाळवावें भक्त म्हुण "jaga cāḷavāvē — bhakta"
ऐसा तरि एक सांगा जी विचार "vicāra"
बहु होतों फार कासावीस "kāsā-vīsa"
काय कवित्वाची घालूनियां रूढी "kavitva — rūḍhi"
करूं जोडाजोडी अक्षरांची "jōḍā-jōḍī — akṣara"
काय गुंपोनि दुकाना "gumpōni — dukāna"
राहों नारायणा करुनी घात "ghāta"

What it means

A should-we-fill-belly-call-ourselves-bhakta-tell-one-vicāra-I-am-anguished-make-poetry-into-custom-do-joining-of-letters-stuck-in-shop-doing-self-ruin abhang. Poetic-craft-as-shop-and-self-ruin-question register. Three claims:

  1. पोट-भरावें — जग-चाळवावें-भक्त-म्हणून — विचार-सांगा — कासा-वीस. Should-we-just-fill-belly-claim. Should we just fill pōṭa; and run jaga by-calling-(ourselves)-bhakta?; tell one vicāra; I'm very kāsā-vīsa.

  2. कवित्व-रूढी — जोडा-जोडी-अक्षरांची. Poetry-into-custom-claim. Should I put kavitva into rūḍhi; do jōḍā-jōḍī of akṣara?

  3. Tuka: दुकाना-गुंपोनि — Nārāyaṇा-घात-करुन-राहों. Stuck-in-shop-self-ruin-claim. Tuka says: should I be stuck in the dukāna, doing-self-ghāta?. Question: is poetry-as-trade self-destructive?*

[T]

For someone today

This abhang names the poetic-craft-as-shop-and-self-ruin-question register:

  1. Should we just fill belly and call ourselves bhakta? Bhakti-as-trade.

  2. Tell one vicāra; I'm anguished. Need-clarity.

  3. Should I make poetry into custom? Poetry-routinized.

  4. Should I get stuck in the shop, doing self-ruin? Trade-as-ghāta.

For today: should we fill pōṭa, claim bhakta?; tell one vicāra; I'm kāsā-vīsa; should poetry become rūḍhi, jōḍā-jōḍī of *akṣara?; should I be gumpōni in dukāna, karunī ghāta**?.

This abhang is Tukaram's poetic-craft-as-shop-and-self-ruin-question register — one of the most-precise self-questioning statements about Tuka's own kavitva-vocation. Compare 0824 Tuka-shopkeeper-shows-by-price-vāṇī (Tuka's mudra); same shop-image but here organized as worry-the-shop-becomes-self-ruin. The kāya gumpōni dukānā rāhōm Nārāyaṇā karunī ghāta (should I get stuck in the shop, doing my-own-destruction, Nārāyaṇa?) is the precise self-vocation-doubt*.

मराठी: ही ओवी poetic-craft-as-shop-and-self-ruin-question register नाव सांगते:

  1. पोट-भरावें-भक्त. Bhakti-as-trade.

  2. विचार-सांगा. Need-clarity.

  3. कवित्व-रूढी. Poetry-routinized.

  4. दुकाना-गुंपोनि. Trade-as-ghāta.

आज: Pōṭa भरावें, bhakta म्हणून?; Vicāra सांगा — kāsā-vīsa; Kavitva-rūḍhi, akṣara-jōḍā?; Dukāna-त gumpōni, Nārāyaṇa, ghāta-karuni?*.

Tukaram च-poetic-craft-as-shop-and-self-ruin-question-register — Most-precise self-questioning statements about Tuka's-own-kavitva-vocation पैकी एक. 0824 (Tuka mudra) compare; तीच shop-image पण इथे worry-the-shop-becomes-self-ruin च्या मार्गाने. Kāya gumpōni dukānā rāhōm Nārāyaṇā karunī ghāta precise self-vocation-doubt.

Where this applies

Bhakti

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