Abhanga 1686
English: Life of life, body of amṛta, Brahmāṇḍa-ornament — Nārāyaṇa.
The verse
जीवाचें जीवन अमृताची तनु । ब्रम्हांड भूषणु नारायण ॥१॥ सुखाचा सांगात अंतकासी अंत । निजांचा निवांत नारायण ॥ध्रु.॥ गोडाचें ही गोड हर्षाचें ही कोड । प्रीतीचा ही लाड नारायण ॥२॥ भावाचा निज भाव नांवांचा हा नांव । अवघा पंढरिराव अवतरलासे ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे जें हें साराचें हें सार । माझा अंगीकार तेणें केला ॥४॥
Literal translation
English: Life of life, body of amṛta, Brahmāṇḍa-ornament — Nārāyaṇa. Sukha's companion, end of antaka, nivānta of nijas — Nārāyaṇa. Sweetness of the sweet, marvel of joy, prīti's lāḍa — Nārāyaṇa. Bhāva's nija-bhāva, name of names — Paṇḍhari-rāva has incarnated. Tuka says: that which is the essence of essence — he made my angīkāra.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जीवाचें जीवन अमृताची तनु | "life of life — body of amṛta" |
| ब्रम्हांड भूषणु नारायण | "Brahmāṇḍa-ornament — Nārāyaṇa" |
| सुखाचा सांगात अंतकासी अंत | "sukha's companion — end of antaka (death)" |
| निजांचा निवांत नारायण | "of nijas — utterly-still — Nārāyaṇa" |
| गोडाचें ही गोड हर्षाचें ही कोड | "sweetness of the sweet — marvel of joy" |
| प्रीतीचा ही लाड नारायण | "prīti's lāḍa — Nārāyaṇa" |
| भावाचा निज भाव नांवांचा हा नांव | "bhāva's nija-bhāva — of names — this name" |
| अवघा पंढरिराव अवतरलासे | "all — Paṇḍhari-rāva — has descended-incarnated" |
| तुका म्हणे जें हें साराचें हें सार | "Tuka says — that-which — the essence of essence" |
| माझा अंगीकार तेणें केला | "my angīkāra — he made" |
What it means
All-superlatives-Nārāyaṇa praise abhang. A cascading-genitive structure (X of X = Nārāyaṇa) that piles up meta-superlatives.
The cascading-praises:
Verse 1: jīvācēm jīvana (life of life) + amṛtācī tanu (body of amṛta) + Brahmāṇḍa bhūṣaṇa (Brahmāṇḍa-ornament) — Nārāyaṇa.
Dhṛuva: sukhācā sāngāta (sukha's companion) + antakāsī anta (end of antaka = death) + nijāñcā nivānta (utterly-still of the nijas) — Nārāyaṇa.
Verse 2: gōḍācēm gōḍa (sweetness of sweet) + harṣācēm kōḍa (marvel of joy) + prītīcā lāḍa (prīti's lāḍa-fondling) — Nārāyaṇa.
Verse 3: bhāvācā nija bhāva (bhāva's own-bhāva) + nāmvāñcā nāmva (name of names) — all of these = Paṇḍhari-rāva who has incarnated.
Closing: jēm sārācēm hēm sāra (the essence-of-essence) — that very — made my angīkāra (formal-acceptance).
This abhang is one of Tukaram's most-celebrated praise-cascades — the meta-superlative pattern (X-of-X) asserts Nārāyaṇa as the inner-essence of every desirable-quality. The closing brings it down to the personal: that very Essence-of-essence has made me his own.
[T]
For someone today
For today: Nārāyaṇa is the life-of-life, the body-of-amṛta, the ornament-of-Brahmāṇḍa; he is sukha's-companion, the end-of-death, the utterly-still center of all that is one's-own; he is the sweetness-of-the-sweet, the marvel-of-joy, the very fondling-of-love; he is the bhāva-of-bhāva, the name-of-names — all this Paṇḍhari-rāva has incarnated as; Tuka says — that which is the essence-of-essence — he himself has made my angīkāra.
Where this applies
- Life-of-life-body-of-amṛta-Brahmāṇḍa-ornament.* Jīva-jīvana-amṛta-tanu-brahmāṇḍa-bhūṣaṇa.
- Sukha-companion-end-of-death-nivānta.* Sukha-sāngāta-antaka-anta-nivānta.
- Sweet-of-sweet-prīti-lāḍa.* Gōḍa-gōḍa-prīti-lāḍa.
- Bhāva-of-bhāva-name-of-names.* Bhāva-nija-bhāva-nāmva-nāmva.
- Essence-of-essence-made-angīkāra.* Sāra-sāra-angīkāra.