Abhanga 1746
A truly pure heart turns even enemies into friends and makes danger, poison, and suffering into safety, nectar, and joy, known through direct lived experience of grace.
The verse
चित्त शुद्ध तरी शत्रु मित्र होती । व्याघ्र हे न खाती सर्प तया ॥१॥ विष तें अमृत अघातें हित । अकर्तव्य नीत होय त्यासी ॥ध्रु.॥ दुःख तें देईंल सर्व सुख फळ । होतील शीतळ अग्निज्वाळा ॥२॥ आवडेल जीवां जीवाचे परी । सकळां अंतरीं एक भाव ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे कृपा केली नारायणें । जाणियेते येणें अनुभवें ॥४॥
Literal translation
Chitta śuddha — then enemies become friends — tigers don't eat — snakes (don't bite) to him. Poison is amṛta — destruction reveals hita — akarttavya becomes nīti for him. Duḥkha will give all sukha-fruit — agni-flames will become śītaḷa. Will be loved by jīvas as their own jīva — in all inner, one bhāva. Tuka says: Nārāyaṇa has done kṛpā — known by this very anubhava.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| चित्त शुद्ध तरी शत्रु मित्र होती | "chitta śuddha — then enemies become friends" |
| व्याघ्र हे न खाती सर्प तया | "tigers don't eat — snakes (don't bite) — to him" |
| विष तें अमृत अघातें हित | "poison amṛta — destruction reveals hita" |
| अकर्तव्य नीत होय त्यासी | "akarttavya — becomes nīti — for him" |
| दुःख तें देईंल सर्व सुख फळ | "duḥkha will give — all sukha-fruit" |
| होतील शीतळ अग्निज्वाळा | "will become śītaḷa — agni-flames" |
| आवडेल जीवां जीवाचे परी | "will be loved — by jīvas — as their own jīva" |
| सकळां अंतरीं एक भाव | "in all inner — one bhāva" |
| तुका म्हणे कृपा केली नारायणें | "Tuka says — Nārāyaṇa has done kṛpā" |
| जाणियेते येणें अनुभवें | "known by this anubhava" |
What it means
The famous Tukaram-Rāmeśvara-bhaṭṭa fever-extinguishing abhang. Identified by the editorial-marker at 1745 as the abhang composed by Tukaram which calmed the dāha (burning-fever) in Rāmeśvara-bhaṭṭa's-body caused by Anaghaḍasiddha's-word.
The opening principle: chitta śuddha tarī śatru mitra hōtī — vyāghra hē na khātī sarpa tayā — with chitta śuddha — enemies become friends — tigers don't eat — snakes (don't bite) to him. The chitta-śuddhi-causes-cosmic-friendship doctrine: natural-hostility transforms; predatory-animals don't attack. The key-image that literally cooled Rāmeśvara-bhaṭṭa's-burning.
The transformation-cluster: viṣa tēm amṛta aghātēm hita — akarttavya nīta hōya tyāsī — poison is amṛta — destruction reveals hita — akarttavya becomes nīti for him. Akarttavya = what shouldn't-be-done; nīti = the proper-norm. Even the wrong-action becomes the proper-norm for him.
The fire-cool: duḥkha tēm dē'īla sarva sukha phaḷa — hōtīla śītaḷa agni-jvāḷa — duḥkha will give all-sukha-fruit — agni-flames will become śītaḷa. The famous śītaḷa-agni-jvāḷa line that literally cooled the burning.
The universal-love: āvaḍēla jīvām jīvācē parī — sakaḷām antarīm ēka bhāva — will be loved by jīvas as their own jīva — in all inner, one bhāva. The chitta-śuddha bhakta is loved-by-all-jīvas as-their-own; one-bhāva pervades-all-inner.
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē kṛpā kēlī Nārāyaṇē — jāṇiyētē yēṇē anubhavē — Tuka says: Nārāyaṇa has done kṛpā — known by this very anubhava. Known by direct-experience.
This abhang is widely-known in warkari tradition as the fever-extinguishing-abhang — its very-utterance is believed to cool burning, transform hostility into friendship, render the bhakta safe-from-tigers-snakes-poison-and-fire.
[T]
For someone today
For today: with a pure chitta — even enemies become friends — tigers do not eat, snakes do not bite him; poison becomes amṛta — destruction reveals the good — even what should not be done becomes the proper-norm for him; duḥkha will give all sukha as fruit — even the flames of fire will become cool; he will be loved by all beings as their own life — in all-inner, one bhāva; Tuka says — Nārāyaṇa has done this grace — it is known by this very direct-experience.
Where this applies
- When you're facing someone hostile and don't know whether to fight back or soften your own heart first
- When you're going through something destructive or frightening and can't yet see any good hidden in it
- When you're in the middle of real suffering and doubt it could ever turn into something worthwhile
- When you feel cut off from other people and long for that sense of shared, undivided warmth