Abhanga 1909
Deep longing does not mean its fruit has ripened, and a restless mind caught in cycles of worry finds no rest through thinking alone.
The verse
धरितों वासना परी नये फळ । प्राप्तीचा तो काळ नाहीं आला ॥१॥ तळमळी चत्ति घातलें खापरीं । फुटतसे परी लाहीचिया ॥ध्रु.॥ प्रकार ते कांहीं नावडती जीवा । नाहीं पुढें ठावा काळ हातीं ॥२॥ जातों तळा येतों मागुता लौकरी । वोळशाचे फेरी सांपडलों ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे बहु करितों विचार । उतरें डोंगर एक चढें ॥४॥
Literal translation
I hold vāsanā but no fruit — the time of attainment has not come. Chitta restless, placed in earthen-pot — bursts like puffed-rice. No kinds please the jīva — no future-place in time's hand. Go down, come back swiftly — caught in the whirlpool's circles. Tuka says: much I think — one mountain descends, one ascends.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| धरितों वासना परी नये फळ | "I hold vāsanā — but no fruit" |
| प्राप्तीचा तो काळ नाहीं आला | "the time of attainment has not come" |
| तळमळी चत्ति घातलें खापरीं | "chitta restless — placed in earthen-pot" |
| फुटतसे परी लाहीचिया | "bursts — like puffed-rice (lāhī)" |
| प्रकार ते कांहीं नावडती जीवा | "no kinds please the jīva" |
| नाहीं पुढें ठावा काळ हातीं | "no future-place in time's hand" |
| जातों तळा येतों मागुता लौकरी | "go down — come back swiftly" |
| वोळशाचे फेरी सांपडलों | "caught in the whirlpool's circles (vōḷaśācē phērī)" |
| तुका म्हणे बहु करितों विचार | "Tuka says — much I think" |
| उतरें डोंगर एक चढें | "one mountain descends — one ascends" |
What it means
Caught-in-whirlpool + chitta-bursts-like-lāhī abhang. Letter-sent-with-saints cluster.
The opening: dharitōm vāsanā parī nayē phaḷa — prāptīcā tō kāḷa nāhīm ālā — I hold vāsanā but no fruit — the time of attainment has not come. I-hold-the-desire-for-darśana, but the-fruit (= the meeting) hasn't-come; the-time-isn't-ripe.
The lāhī-image: taḷamaḷī chitta ghātalē khāparīm — phuṭatasē parī lāhīciyā — chitta restless, placed in earthen-pot — bursts like puffed-rice. Khāparī = earthen-roasting-pot; lāhī = puffed-rice / popped-grain. The bhakta's-chitta is like-grain in-the-roasting-pot, bursting-with-the-heat of-restlessness.
The whirlpool-image: jātōm taḷā yētōm māgutā laukarī — vōḷaśācē phērī sānpaḍalōm — go down, come back swiftly — caught in the whirlpool's circles. Vōḷasa = whirlpool; phērī = circles. The bhakta-spins in-the-whirlpool, going-down-and-coming-back-up repeatedly.
The closing-image: Tukā mhaṇē bahu karitōm vicāra — utarē ḍōngara ēka caḍē — Tuka says: much I think — one mountain descends, one ascends. The thinking-process: descend-one-mountain (resolve-one-issue), ascend-another (face-a-new-one) — no end to the mental-labor.
[T]
For someone today
For today: I hold vāsanā but no fruit — the time of attainment has not come; chitta restless, placed in earthen-pot — bursts like puffed-rice; no kinds please the jīva — no future-place in time's hand; go down, come back swiftly — caught in the whirlpool's circles; Tuka says — much I think — one mountain descends, one ascends.
Where this applies
- When you long for something good to happen but sense the timing just isn't right yet
- When your mind feels like it is boiling over with a restlessness you cannot quiet
- When you feel stuck in the same repeating cycle of hope followed by disappointment
- When solving one problem in your life immediately reveals another waiting right behind it