संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1016 of 4582

Abhanga 1016

Real devotion isn't abstract knowledge of oneness with God but an intimate, personal relationship built on closeness, not merger.

When no need for brahma-jñāna — make me bhakta and you Dēva — and you have to recognize this register
When show your form — I'll place head on feet — and you accept this image
When gazing on blessed face I'll embrace — wave neem-and-salt to ward off evil — and you allow this image

The verse

नको ब्रम्हज्ञान आत्मस्थितीभाव । मी भक्त तूं देव ऐसें करीं ॥१॥ दावीं रूप मज गोपिकारमणा । ठेवीन चरणांवरी माथा ॥ध्रु.॥ पाहोनि श्रीमुख देइन आलिंगन । जीवें निंबलोण उतरीन ॥२॥ पुसतां सांगेन हितगुज मात । बैसोनि एकांत सुखगोष्टी ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे यासी न लावीं उशीर । माझें अभ्यंतर जाणोनियां ॥४॥

Literal translation

No brahma-jñāna — ātma-sthiti-bhāva — bhakta — Dēva. Rūpa — gōpikā-ramaṇa — caraṇa — māthā. Śrī-mukha — ālingana — nimba-lōṇa — utarīna. Hita-guja-māta — ēkānta — sukha-gōṣṭi. Tuka says: uśīra — abhyantara.

मराठी: नको ब्रह्म-ज्ञान, आत्म-स्थिति-भाव — मी भक्त, तूं Dēva — ऐसें करीं. दावीं रूप मज, गोपिका-रमणा — चरणांवरी माथा ठेवीन. पाहोनि श्री-मुख — आलिंगन देइन — जीवें निंब-लोण उतरीन. पुसतां सांगेन हित-गुज-मात — बैसोनि एकांत — सुख-गोष्टी. Tuka म्हणे: यासि उशीर न लावीं — माझें अभ्यंतर जाणोनियां.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
नको ब्रम्हज्ञान आत्मस्थितीभाव "no brahma-jñāna — ātma-sthiti-bhāva"
मी भक्त तूं देव ऐसें करीं "bhakta — Dēva — karī"
दावीं रूप मज गोपिकारमणा "rūpa — gōpikā-ramaṇa"
ठेवीन चरणांवरी माथा "caraṇa — māthā"
पाहोनि श्रीमुख देइन आलिंगन "śrī-mukha — ālingana"
जीवें निंबलोण उतरीन "nimba-lōṇa — utarīna"
पुसतां सांगेन हितगुज मात "hita-guja-māta"
बैसोनि एकांत सुखगोष्टी "ēkānta — sukha-gōṣṭi"
यासी न लावीं उशीर "uśīra"
माझें अभ्यंतर जाणोनियां "abhyantara"

What it means

A no-need-for-brahma-jñāna-or-ātma-state-make-me-the-bhakta-and-you-the-Dēva-show-your-rūpa-O-gōpikā-ramaṇa-I'll-place-my-māthā-on-your-caraṇa-gazing-on-śrī-mukha-give-ālingana-wave-nimba-lōṇa-with-my-jīva-when-asked-tell-heart-secrets-in-solitude-sweet-talk-don't-make-this-late-knowing-my-interior abhang. Don't-be-late-knowing-my-interior register. Tukaram's most-explicit refusal of monism in favor of dvaita-bhakti. Five claims:

  1. नको-ब्रह्म-ज्ञान — मी-भक्त-तूं-Dēva. No-brahma-jñāna-claim. No need forbrahma-jñāna, ātma-sthitī-bhāva (the state of identification-with-Ātman);make me the bhakta and you the Dēva — that very thing. (Tuka explicitly refuses the advaita identity-realization. He wants the I-and-You relation.)

  2. दावीं-रूप — गोपिका-रमणा — चरण-माथा. Show-your-rūpa-claim. Show (your)rūpato me,gōpikā-ramaṇa (lover-of-gopīs);I will place (my) māthā on (your) caraṇa.

  3. श्री-मुख — आलिंगन — जीव-निंब-लोण. Wave-neem-and-salt-with-my-life-claim. Gazing on (your)śrī-mukha I will give ālingana (an embrace);I will utara (wave-around-and-cast-off) nimba-lōṇa (neem-leaves and salt — the traditional evil-eye-warding pass) by (my own) jīva. (The most tender image: I'll wave my life itself around you to ward off the evil-eye, like a mother does for a child. The jīvē — with-my-jīva — is the staggering offering.)

  4. पुसतां — हित-गुज-मात — एकांत-सुख-गोष्टी. Heart-secrets-in-solitude-claim. When (you) ask, I will tellhita-guja-māta (heart-secrets, intimate-affectionate-words);sitting in ēkānta (solitude) — sukha-gōṣṭi (sweet-talk, blissful-conversation). (The dvaita-relation: two persons, in solitude, sharing intimate words.)

  5. Tuka: न-लावीं-उशीर — अभ्यंतर-जाणोनियां. Don't-be-late-knowing-my-interior-claim. Tuka says: don't make thisuśīra (delay);knowing my abhyantara (interior, the inside-of-the-heart). (You know my heart already — don't delay this dvaita-relation.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram doesn't want abstract spiritual knowledge or the sense of merging into oneness with God — he says plainly, make me the devotee and you the divine, keep us as two so there can be a relationship. What he longs for is intimacy: to see God's face, to bow his head at those feet, to embrace, even to offer his own life the way a mother waves salt and neem leaves around a child to ward off harm. He wants quiet, private conversation, heart-to-heart, not distant philosophy. And since God already knows what's inside him, he asks not to be kept waiting any longer.

मराठी: तुकाराम इथे स्पष्ट सांगतात — मला ब्रह्मज्ञान नको, अद्वैताची जाणीव नको; मला भक्त राहू दे आणि तुला देव, म्हणजे आपल्यात एक नातं राहील. त्यांना हवी आहे जवळीक — देवाचं मुख पाहणं, त्याच्या चरणांवर मस्तक ठेवणं, आलिंगन देणं, आणि आई जशी मुलाला दृष्ट लागू नये म्हणून मीठ-निंब ओवाळते तशी स्वतःचा जीव ओवाळून टाकणं. त्यांना हवी आहेत शांत, खासगी बोलणी, मनातलं मन उलगडणारी — तत्त्वज्ञान नव्हे. आणि देवाला आधीच त्याचं अंतःकरण माहीत असल्यामुळे, तो विनंती करतो — आता उशीर करू नकोस.

Where this applies

Bhakti

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