Abhanga 1795

Don't settle for a hypocritical show or a symbolic substitute for love; ask directly for the real thing and break down the sense of separation now.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Give-me-prēma-break-bhēda-buddhi abhang.

The opening: āṇa kāya sādara — viśīm āmhām kām niṣṭha — what honor — why niṣṭhā for viṣaya for us?. Āṇa = oath / show / pretense; sādara = honoring. What good is the show-of-bhakti, what use is niṣṭhā for viṣaya?. (= we don't need niṣṭhā-for-the-senses-or-pretenses; we need only the prēma.)

The prēma-petition: kēlēm bhakta taisē dē'ī — tujhēm prēma mājhyā-ṭhāyīm — what you made bhakta — thus give — your prēma to my place. What you-have-given-others-as-bhaktas, give-thus-to-me — your prēma at-my-place. (= give-me what you-give-the-Pāṇḍavas, the-Prahlādas, the-other-bhaktas.)

Critique 1 — pangatī vs. ēkānta: kāya pangatīsa kōṇḍā — ēkāntāsī sākara-māṇḍā — what use, kōṇḍā in the public-row, sugar-māṇḍā in solitude?. Pangatī = the row of diners (= the public-feast); kōṇḍā = bran (= poor-fare); ēkānta = solitude; sākara-māṇḍā = sweet-bread (= fine-fare). Hypocritical-bhakta who serves bran-in-public and sugar-bread-in-private — publicly-poor-bhakti, privately-rich-pleasures. Or vice versa: in-public the elaborate-show, in-private the secret-degradation.

Critique 2 — fake-oneness: kāya ēka-paṇa — pōtām ghālūni gāṇṭhī khūṇa — what oneness is putting in a sack and tying a knot as the sign?. The fake-advaitin who pretends to ēka-paṇa (oneness) by formally bagging-and-tying — but the real-oneness is not a knot-on-a-sack.

Critique 3 — anārisē-substitute: kāya ghyāvēm aisēm — tyā āpaṇa anārisē — what to take from him as anārisē?. Anārisē = different / inferior-substitute. What good is taking-an-inferior-substitute when the real-prēma is available?.

The closing: Tukā mhaṇē madhīm — ātām tōḍūm bhēda-buddhī — Tuka says: in the middle, now, let us break the bhēda-buddhi. Madhīm = in the middle (= between the bhakta and the deva, between the human and the divine); bhēda-buddhi = the discriminating-mind (= the differentiating-thought). Now-and-here, let-us-break-the-bhēda-buddhi that-stands-between-us.

The implicit-message: don't give me an inferior-substitute; don't accept my hypocritical-show; let-us-break-bhēda-buddhi between you-and-me; give-me-the-actual-prēma directly.

[T]

For someone today

For today: what honor — why niṣṭhā for viṣaya for us?; what you made bhakta, thus give — your prēma to my place; what use is bran in the public-row and sugar-bread in solitude?; what oneness is bagging-it and tying a knot?; what to take from him as an inferior-substitute?; Tuka says — now, in the middle, let us break the bhēda-buddhi.

Where this applies

• When you catch yourself performing devotion or kindness in public while keeping your real self hidden or selfish in private
• When you settle for a watered-down or symbolic version of connection instead of asking directly for the real thing
• When someone offers you a formal gesture of closeness that doesn't actually close the distance between you
• When you're ready to stop the performance and ask plainly for genuine love rather than an imitation of it

Related verses

• Abhanga 2474 — For today: salt in water — what separate? ; fire-camphor — no soot ; your-flame and my-fla
• Abhanga 4555 — A true encounter with God proves that plain, steady closeness to him outweighs any amount
• Abhanga 2416 — It is honest and allowed to voice frustration when you feel you are struggling while the d
• Abhanga 2577 — In deep union with the divine, separateness dissolves completely, like water becoming sky,