Abhanga 1261
English: By my body's anubhava — I know bad and good.
The verse
मज अंगाच्या अनुभवें । काईं वाईंट बरें ठावें ॥१॥ जालों दोहींचा देखणा । नये मागें पुढें ही मना ॥ध्रु.॥ वोस वसती ठावी । परि हे चाली दुःख पावी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे घेऊं देवा । सवें करूनि बोळावा ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: By my body's anubhava — I know bad and good. I have become the seer of both — neither back nor forward to the mind. Empty and inhabited — both known — but this movement (between) brings duḥkha. Tuka says: take (me), Deva — go-with-me, call(ing).
मराठी: माझ्या अंगाच्या अनुभवानें — काय वाईट, काय बरें — मला ठाऊक. मी दोन्हींचा देखणा झालों — मनाला मागें-पुढें (कांहीं) येत नाहीं. वोस आणि वसती — दोन्ही ठावीं — पण ही चाली (एकांतून दुसर्यांत जाणें) दुःख देती. Tukā म्हणे — देवा — मला घे — सोबत करून — बोलाव.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| मज अंगाच्या अनुभवें | "by my anga's (body's) anubhava" |
| काईं वाईंट बरें ठावें | "I know what is bad (vāīmṭa) and good (barēm)" |
| जालों दोहींचा देखणा | "I have become the dēkhaṇā (seer) of both" |
| नये मागें पुढें ही मना | "neither back nor forward (comes) to the mind" |
| वोस वसती ठावी | "vōsa (empty / abandoned) and vasatī (inhabited / occupied) — both known" |
| परि हे चाली दुःख पावी | "but this cālī (movement / going) brings duḥkha" |
| घेऊं देवा सवें करूनि बोळावा | "take, Deva — make companion (savē) — call (bōḷāvā)" |
What it means
The seer-of-both abhang. Tuka has experienced vōsa (empty / desolate / abandoned states) and vasatī (inhabited / occupied states) — and is now the dēkhaṇā (witnessing eye) of both. The mind no longer moves māgē-puḍhē (back-or-forward) — neither remembering past pleasure nor anticipating future relief.
The crucial insight: cālī duḥkha pāvī — the movement-between brings duḥkha. Not vōsa, not vasatī — but the transition, the cālī (going from one to the other), is where suffering lives. To rest in either pure-vōsa or pure-vasatī would be enough; the alternation is the wound.
The closing prayer is small and exact: ghē'ūm Devā — savē karūnī bōḷāvā — take, Deva — make-companion-and-call. Don't leave me oscillating between vōsa and vasatī alone; go-with-me (savē = with-companion) and call me along.
[T]
For someone today
For today: the empty and the inhabited are both bearable on their own; the cālī (oscillation between) is what causes suffering — ask Hari to make-companion-and-call you along.
Where this applies
- Body-knows-bad-and-good.* Angācyā-anubhavē.
- Seer-of-both.* Dōhīncā-dēkhaṇā.
- Empty-and-inhabited.* Vōsa-vasatī.
- Movement-brings-suffering.* Cālī-duḥkha-pāvī.
- Take-and-call-me-along.* Savē-karūnī-bōḷāvā.