Abhanga 1765

The Name of God is so sweet that it outlasts every other pleasure, cuts you free from the cycle of samsara, and becomes as essential as food itself.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Nāma-as-sweet-food + Viṭhṭhal-as-āhāra abhang.

The opening: tujhēm nāma gōḍa nāma gōḍa — purē kōḍa sakaḷa hī — your Name is sweet, the Name is sweet — all longing is fulfilled. The doubled-gōḍa (= sweet-sweet) is intensifying-repetition; kōḍa = longing, fond-desire; all-the-longing is fulfilled by the sweet-Name.

The tongue-image: rasanā yērām rasām viṭē — ghētām ghōṭa adhika hēm — the rasanā tires of other rasas — having taken a gulp, wants more of this. Rasanā = the tongue / sense-of-taste; yērām rasām = the-other-rasas (= other-tastes / sensory-pleasures); viṭē = tires of, becomes-disgusted-with. The tongue tires-of-other-tastes once it has tasted this Name; the more-it-takes (ghōṭa = gulp), the more-it-wants. Self-amplifying-sweetness.

The death-knot: āṇikām rasē maraṇa gāṇṭhī — yēṇē tuṭī samsārēm — other rasas bring the death-knot — by this Name samsāra is cut. Other-rasas (= other-pleasures) bind-into-the-death-knot (= the samsāra-cycle that ends in death); by-this Name, samsāra is cut. The Name as samsāra-cutter.

The closing: Tukā mhaṇē āhāra jālā — hā Viṭhṭhalā āmhāmsī — Tuka says: this Viṭhṭhalā has become our food. Āhāra = food, sustenance. Viṭhṭhal himself has become our food — the most-intimate-bhakta-image: Lord-as-food, swallowed and assimilated. (The eat-the-Lord image — connects to the Vārī's prasāda-eating and to the bhakta's bhōga-bhāva.)

The image-progression: Name-is-sweet → tongue-tires-of-others → wants-more-of-this → other-rasas-are-death-knot → Name-cuts-samsāra → Lord-himself-becomes-food. From taste to anti-taste to eating-the-Lord.

[T]

For someone today

For today: your Name is sweet, the Name is sweet — all my longing is fulfilled; the tongue tires of other tastes — having taken one gulp of this, it wants more; other rasas bring the death-knot — by this Name, samsāra is cut; Tuka says — this Viṭhṭhal himself has become food for us.

Where this applies

• When you've tried every distraction and pleasure and still feel an emptiness nothing quite fills
• When a simple daily practice like chanting or prayer starts to feel more satisfying than the things you used to chase
• When you notice a habit or pleasure keeps pulling you back into the same tiring cycle of wanting more
• When you realize something spiritual has stopped being a discipline and has become as necessary to you as food

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center