संत साहित्य
Work in progress. Translations and commentary are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies or hallucinations — please use your own judgement and check against the original sources.
संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1524 of 4582

Abhanga 1524

For today: thirst drank itself, hunger ate itself; no second-thing remained, Viṭhṭhal took the accounting; no dwelling for desire, mind stuck at feet; Tuka remained as remnant — the jīva-in-jīva mismatch happened.

When you'd witness the dissolution-mystical state — thirst drank thirst; Viṭhṭhal took the account; no dwelling for desire; Tuka as remnant

The verse

तान्हे तान्ह प्याली । भूक भुकेने खादली ॥१॥ जेथें तें च नाहीं जालें । झाडा घेतला विठ्ठलें ॥ध्रु.॥ वास वासनेसी नाहीं । मन पांगुळलें पायीं ॥२॥ शेष उरला तुका । जीवा जीवीं जाला चुका ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Thirst drank thirst — hunger was eaten by hunger. Where that very thing has not jālēm — Viṭhṭhal took the jhāḍā. No vāsa for vāsanā — mana pānguḷalēm at the feet. Śeṣa uralā — Tuka — jīva in jīva, cukā has happened.

मराठी: तान्हे — तान्ह — प्याली; — भूक — भुकेने — खादली. जेथें — तें — च — नाहीं — जालें; — झाडा — घेतला — विठ्ठलें. वास — वासनेसी — नाहीं; — मन — पांगुळलें — पायीं. शेष — उरला — तुका; — जीवा — जीवीं — जाला — चुका.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
तान्हे तान्ह प्याली "tānhatānhadrank (pyālī) — by tānha"
भूक भुकेने खादली "bhūkabhukēnēwas eaten (khādalī)"
जेथें तें च नाहीं जालें "where — that very — has not happened (jālēm)"
झाडा घेतला विठ्ठलें "jhāḍā (= account / sweeping-clean / reckoning) — was taken — by Viṭhṭhala"
वास वासनेसी नाहीं "vāsa (= dwelling) — for vāsanā — there is none"
मन पांगुळलें पायीं "the manapānguḷalēm (= limped-and-stuck / lamed) — at (the) feet"
शेष उरला तुका "śēṣa (= remnant) — uralā (= remained) — Tuka"
जीवा जीवीं जाला चुका "jīva-in-jīvacukā (= mistake / mis-fit / mismatch) — has happened"

What it means

Thirst-drank-thirst-mystical-dissolution abhang. A mystical-state-witness. The opening: tānhē tānha pyālī — bhūka bhukēnē khādalīthe thirstdrank thirst; — the hungerwas eaten by hunger. The self-consuming mystical-formula: the very-thirst drank itself; the very-hunger ate itself. (= the desire-itself dissolved into itself; striking-paradoxical formulation. Compare Bhagavad-Gītā 4.24 brahmārpaṇam brahma haviḥ* — the offering-into-Brahman by Brahman; same dissolution.)

The middle-witness: jēthēm tēm chi nāhīm jālēm — jhāḍā ghētalā Viṭhṭhalēmwhere the very thing has not happenedjhāḍā (= account / sweeping-clean) — taken — by Viṭhṭhala. No second-thing remains; Viṭhṭhal himself took the accounting. Jhāḍā — the full-and-final-reckoning + sweeping-clean; Viṭhṭhal collected everything.

The desire-clearing: vāsa vāsanēsī nāhīm — mana pānguḷalēm pāyīmno vāsa (= dwelling) — for vāsanā (= desire); — the manalimped-and-stuck — at (the) feet. Desire has no dwelling-place anymore; the mind has gone-lame at his feet** (= can't move from there).

The closing-paradox: śēṣa uralā Tukā — jīvā jīvīm jālā cukāTuka — remained — as remnant; — jīva-in-jīvacukā (= mistake / mismatch) — has happened. Only-the-remnant-Tuka stayed; between jīva-and-jīva, a mismatch-happened (= the jīva can no longer fit-into-itself; or the bhakta-jīva no longer fits the original-jīva-self. The cukā signals the bhakta's self-fit-broken — a positive mark of dissolution).

This abhang represents Tuka's most mystical-dissolution-state witnessing — perhaps influenced by Eckhart-style self-consuming-of-self paradoxes. Pairs with 1503's jēm-jēm-bhēṭē-mī-aisēm and 1510's vēdha-jālā — the deeper-dissolution beyond those.

[T]

For someone today

For today: thirst drank itself, hunger ate itself; no second-thing remained, Viṭhṭhal took the accounting; no dwelling for desire, mind stuck at feet; Tuka remained as remnant — the jīva-in-jīva mismatch happened.

Where this applies

Related verses