Abhanga 2169
For today: when the body dissolves — no remainder for speech; else, vāk-net for ornament-only; cane melts in heat — chitta is pulled likewise; Viṣṇu-dāsa Tukā — full-owner knows the mistakes.
The verse
देह निरसे तरी । बोलावया नुरे उरी ॥१॥ येर वाचेचें वाग्जाळ । अळंकारापुरते बोल ॥ध्रु.॥ काचें तरी कढे । जाती ऐसें चित्ती ओढे ॥२॥ विष्णुदास तुका । पूर्ण धनी जाणे चुका ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: When the body dissolves — no remainder for speaking remains. Else — the vāk-net of words — words only for ornament. Even cane melts in heat — like that, the chitta is pulled. Viṣṇu-dāsa Tukā — the full-owner knows the mistakes.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| देह निरसे तरी | "when the body dissolves" |
| बोलावया नुरे उरी | "no remainder for speaking remains" |
| येर वाचेचें वाग्जाळ | "else — the vāk-net of words" |
| अळंकारापुरते बोल | "words only for ornament" |
| काचें तरी कढे | "even cane melts in heat" |
| जाती ऐसें चित्ती ओढे | "like that, the chitta is pulled" |
| विष्णुदास तुका | "Viṣṇu-dāsa Tukā" |
| पूर्ण धनी जाणे चुका | "the full-owner knows the mistakes" |
What it means
Body-dissolves-no-remainder-for-speech + full-owner-knows-mistakes abhang.
The opening — body-dissolution: dēha nirasē tarī — bōlāvayā nurē urī — when the body dissolves — no remainder for speaking remains. When the-body dissolves, there's-no remainder for-speech. (= after death there's-no scope for-speech — so speech-now-is-for-now.)
The ornamental-speech critique: yēra vāchēchē vāg-jāḷa — aḷankārāpuratē bōla — else, the vāk-net of words — words only for ornament. Vāg-jāḷa = net of words, web of speech. The rest is just-a-word-net — words-for-ornament-only. (= much speech-is mere decoration.)
The melting-cane image: kāchēm tarī kaḍhē — jātī aisē chittī ōḍhē — even cane melts in heat — like that, the chitta is pulled. Kāchēm = cane, glass. Kaḍhē = melts, boils. Even-cane (or glass) melts under-heat; like-that, the chitta is-pulled (when-experience-is-strong-enough).
The closing — Viṣṇu-dāsa-Tukā mudra: Viṣṇu-dāsa Tukā — pūrṇa dhanī jāṇē chukā — Viṣṇu-dāsa Tukā — the full-owner knows the mistakes. The full-owner (= the Lord, the dhanī) knows-the-mistakes (chukā). Uses the rarer Viṣṇu-dāsa Tukā mudra-variant in place of the standard Tukā mhaṇē.
[T]
For someone today
For today: when the body dissolves — no remainder for speech; else, vāk-net for ornament-only; cane melts in heat — chitta is pulled likewise; Viṣṇu-dāsa Tukā — full-owner knows the mistakes.
Where this applies
- Body-dissolves-no-remainder-for-speech.* Dēha-nirasē-bōlāvayā-nurē-urī.
- Vāk-net-words-for-ornament-only.* Yēra-vāchēchē-vāg-jāḷa-aḷankārāpuratē.
- Cane-melts-in-heat-chitta-pulled.* Kāchēm-kaḍhē-chittī-ōḍhē.
- Full-owner-knows-mistakes.* Viṣṇu-dāsa-Tukā-pūrṇa-dhanī-chukā.