Abhanga 2067

True devotion dyes you so deeply that it becomes permanent, and genuine inner purity cannot be touched by what tries to defile it.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Dyed-in-Kṛṣṇa-color + face-darkened-by-light abhang.

The opening: rangalē yā rangē pālaṭa na gharī — khēvalē antarīm pālaṭēnā — dyed in this color — change doesn't happen — fixed in interior, doesn't change. Once-dyed-in-this-(Kṛṣṇa)-color, no-change; fixed-in-interior. Permanent-coloring image of bhakti-saturation.

The Kṛṣṇa-stamping: sānvaḷē nikhaḷa Kṛṣṇa-nāma ṭhasē — anga-sangē kaisē śōbhā dētī — pure dark Kṛṣṇa-nāma stamps — by body-contact, how it gives shine. The Sānvaḷā (= dark-blue-Kṛṣṇa-Name) stamps-pure; how-the-body-contact-makes-it-shine.

The purity-protection: pavitra jālē tē na limpē viṭāḷā — naidī baisōm malā āḍa-varī — what is pure — not touched by viṭāḷa — won't let me sit nearby. Viṭāḷa = impurity, touch-defilement (caste-pollution concept). What-has-become-pure is-not-touched-by-impurity; (impurity) won't-let-me-sit-near it. Anti-caste-pollution-inversion: the bhakta-becoming-pure repels-the-defilement-conceit.

The closing-image: Tukā mhaṇē kāḷē kāḷē kēlē tōṇḍa — prakāśa abhaṇḍa dēkhōniyām — Tuka says: darkened — made the face — seeing the unbroken light. The face-darkens upon-seeing the-unbroken-light (= the bright-Kṛṣṇa-Name reflects-on-the-face as-Kṛṣṇa-dark-color; the bhakta becomes-Kṛṣṇa-colored). Brilliant inversion: the bright-light makes-the-face-dark (with Kṛṣṇa's hue).

[T]

For someone today

For today: dyed in this color — change doesn't happen — fixed in interior; pure dark Kṛṣṇa-nāma stamps — by body-contact, how it gives shine; what is pure — not touched by viṭāḷa — won't let me sit nearby; Tuka says — darkened — made the face — seeing the unbroken light.

Where this applies

• When you worry that your devotion is only skin-deep and want it to become part of your actual character.
• When people who consider themselves purer look down on you, and you need to trust that real purity protects itself.
• When you spend time near the divine name or in a sant's company and wonder whether it is really changing you.
• When a moment of deep spiritual insight leaves you visibly different, and you struggle to explain that change to others.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• 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