Abhanga 1399
Being empty of compulsive work and desire lets you watch life from a settled place and treat it as play, standing apart from the world's fuss even while living inside it.
The verse
काम नाहीं काम नाहीं । जालों पाहीं रिकामा ॥१॥ फावल्या या करूं चेष्टा । निश्चळ दृष्टा बैसोनि ॥ध्रु.॥ नसत्या छंदें नसत्या छंदें । जग विनोदें विर्हडतसे ॥२॥ एकाएकीं एकाएकीं । तुका लोकीं निराळा ॥३॥
Literal translation
No work, no work — I have become rikāma, see. The phāvalyā — let's make sport — sitting as niścaḷa-dṛṣṭā. With non-existent chanda — the jaga is amusing-itself by vinōda. Suddenly, suddenly — Tuka is nirāḷā in the lōka.
मराठी: काम नाहीं — काम नाहीं; — जालों — पाहीं — रिकामा. फावल्या या — करूं — चेष्टा; — निश्चळ — दृष्टा — बैसोनि. नसत्या छंदें — नसत्या छंदें; — जग — विनोदें — विर्हडतसे. एकाएकीं — एकाएकीं; — Tukā — लोकीं — निराळा.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| काम नाहीं काम नाहीं | "kāma nāhīm (no work) — kāma nāhīm (no work)" |
| जालों पाहीं रिकामा | "jālōm (have become) — pāhīm (see) — rikāmā (= empty / unoccupied)" |
| फावल्या या करूं चेष्टा | "the phāvalyā (= the (moments) that present themselves / the spare ones) — karūm cēṣṭā (let's make sport)" |
| निश्चळ दृष्टा बैसोनि | "as niścaḷa-dṛṣṭā (= unmoving witness) — sitting" |
| नसत्या छंदें | "with nasatyā chanda (= non-existent whim / fancy that isn't real)" |
| जग विनोदें विर्हडतसे | "the jaga (world) — by vinōda (sport / amusement) — virhaḍatasē (= is getting torn-up / amusing-itself)" |
| एकाएकीं एकाएकीं | "ēkā-ēkīm (all-at-once / suddenly) — ēkā-ēkīm" |
| तुका लोकीं निराळा | "Tuka — in the lōka (world / among people) — nirāḷā (= separate / aloof)" |
What it means
No-work-I-have-become-empty abhang. The opening is the jīvan-mukta declaration: kāma nāhīm kāma nāhīm — jālōm pāhīm rikāmā — nokāma(= work / desire / occupation); — see — I have becomerikāma(= empty / unoccupied). Kāma puns on work and desire; both are gone. Rikāma is the rare positive use of empty — gloriously empty of having-anything-to-do.
The activity from the rikāma-seat: phāvalyā yā karūm cēṣṭā — niścaḷa dṛṣṭā baisōnī — thephāvalyā(= the moments / occasions that present themselves) — let us makecēṣṭā(= sport / play) of them — sitting asniścaḷa-dṛṣṭā(= unmoving witness). From the niścaḷa-dṛṣṭā (Vedāntic witness) seat, whatever phenomena present themselves are cēṣṭā (sport) — Tuka can play with them because he isn't driven by them.
The world's character: nasatyā chandēm nasatyā chandēm — jaga vinōdēm virhaḍatasē — withnasatyā chanda(= non-existent whim — i.e.,whims that aren't real) — thejaga(world) — byvinōda(sport) —virhaḍatasē(= is getting torn-up / amusing-itself). The world amuses itself with whims that aren't even real (= the metaphysical unreality of the world's projects); meanwhile, the same world tears itself up over those non-existent whims. Both senses (amusement + getting-torn) hold simultaneously.
The closing self-image: ēkā-ēkīm ēkā-ēkīm — Tukā lōkīm nirāḷā — all-at-once, all-at-once — Tuka — in thelōka—nirāḷā(separate / aloof). The jīvan-mukta condition: in the world but not of it. All-at-once — the separation isn't gradual.
[T]
For someone today
For today: no work — I have become rikāma; from the niścaḷa-dṛṣṭā seat, make sport of whatever moments present themselves; with non-existent whims, the world amuses-itself / tears-itself; suddenly, all-at-once — be nirāḷā in the lōka.
Where this applies
- When you finish a stretch of obligations and feel a strange, good kind of emptiness instead of restlessness.
- When you are stressed by daily tasks and want to relate to them as play instead of pressure.
- When you notice people, including yourself, getting worked up over things that do not really matter.
- When you want to stay engaged with ordinary life without being swept up or defined by it.