Abhanga 2305
Some experiences of grace are genuine paradoxes that reasoning cannot untangle; only the person who lives through them knows their real taste.
The verse
देवें देऊळ सेविलें । उदक कोरडें चि ठेविलें ॥१॥ नव्हे मत गूढ उमानें कांहीं । तूं आपणआपणापें पाहीं ॥ध्रु.॥ पाठें पूर वोसंडला । सरिता सागर तुंबोनि ठेला ॥२॥ वांजेघरीं बाळ तान्हा । एक बाळी दों कानां ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे पैस । अनुभविया ठावा गोडीरस ॥४॥ ॥ लोहागांवीं कीर्तनांत मेलें मूल जीत झालें ते समयीं स्वामींनीं अभंग केले ते ॥
Literal translation
The Deva served the temple — yet kept the water dry. There's no hidden umāna — look at your own self — yourself. From behind, the flood overflowed — river and ocean are filled-and-stilled. A thirsty-child in a barren home — one earring in two ears. Tuka says: the place — the experiencer knows the gōḍī-rasa.
Prose-marginalia: At Lōhā-gāva, in the kīrtana, a dead child came-back-to-life; at that time, the Swami composed these abhangs
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| देवें देऊळ सेविलें | "the Deva served the temple" |
| उदक कोरडें चि ठेविलें | "yet kept the water dry" |
| नव्हे मत गूढ उमानें कांहीं | "there's no hidden umāna" |
| तूं आपणआपणापें पाहीं | "look at your own self — yourself" |
| पाठें पूर वोसंडला | "from behind, the flood overflowed" |
| सरिता सागर तुंबोनि ठेला | "river and ocean are filled-and-stilled" |
| वांजेघरीं बाळ तान्हा | "a thirsty-child in a barren home" |
| एक बाळी दों कानां | "one earring in two ears" |
| तुका म्हणे पैस | "Tuka says — the place" |
| अनुभविया ठावा गोडीरस | "the experiencer knows the gōḍī-rasa" |
| (prose-marginalia) | "At Lōhā-gāva, in the kīrtana, a dead child came-back-to-life; at that time, the Swami composed these abhangs" |
What it means
THE LŌHĀ-GĀVA-MIRACLE-PROSE-MARGINALIA ABHANG. Series of paradoxical-images + biographical-marker.
The opening — Deva-serves-temple-dry-water: dēvē dē'ūḷa sēvilē — udaka kōraḍē chi ṭhēvilē — the Deva served the temple — yet kept the water dry. The Deva-served-the-temple-yet-kept-the-water-dry (= a paradoxical-situation where one-thing-happens-but-its-natural-corollary-doesn't).
The no-hidden-umāna: navhē mata gūḍha umānē kāmhīm — tūm āpaṇa-āpaṇāpē pāhīm — there's no hidden umāna — look at your own self — yourself. There's no-hidden mata (doctrine); look at-your-own-self yourself.
The paradoxical-images (paradoxical-bhakti-koans): - pāṭhē pūra vōsaṇḍalā — saritā sāgara tumbōni ṭhēlā — from behind, the flood overflowed — river and ocean are filled-and-stilled - vāñjē gharīm bāḷa tānhā — ēka bāḷī dōm kānām — a thirsty-child in a barren home — one earring in two ears (= the child in barren home = the bhakta-as-anomaly; one earring in two ears = the impossible-divided-unity)
The closing — gōḍī-rasa: Tukā mhaṇē paisa — anubhaviyā ṭhāva gōḍī-rasa — Tuka says: the place — the experiencer knows the gōḍī-rasa. Only the experiencer knows-the-gōḍī-rasa.
THE PROSE-MARGINALIA — HISTORICALLY CRITICAL: लोहागांवीं कीर्तनांत मेलें मूल जीत झालें ते समयीं स्वामींनीं अभंग केले ते — "At Lōhā-gāva (Lōhā-village), in the kīrtana, a dead child came-back-to-life; at that time, the Swami composed these abhangs."
The Lōhā-gāva-miracle is one of the most-celebrated miracle-stories in Tukārām's-hagiography. According to Vārkarī tradition, while Tukārām was conducting a kīrtana at Lōhā-gāva, a child who had died was revived during-the-singing-of-the-Name. The biographical-marker here-confirms that-this abhang (and-the-following 2306) were-composed at-the-occasion-of-this-miracle.
The paradoxical-content of-the-abhang itself (Deva-serving-temple-but-keeping-water-dry; thirsty-child-in-barren-home; one-earring-in-two-ears) makes-sense in-light-of-the-miracle-context: the dead-but-alive child is-itself-a-paradox the-rational-mind-can't-grasp; anubhaviyā ṭhāva gōḍī-rasa — only-the-experiencer-knows-the-taste.
[T]
For someone today
God served the temple, yet kept the water dry, a paradox with no natural resolution. There is no hidden doctrine to decode here, just look honestly at your own self. The flood surged from behind, filling and stilling the river and the sea; a thirsty child appears in a barren home, wearing one earring in two ears. Tuka says: only the one who has lived through it truly knows this sweetness.
This abhang was composed at the miracle of Loha-gaon, when a dead child was brought back to life during the kirtana.
मराठी: देवाने देऊळ सेवलं, तरी पाणी कोरडंच ठेवलं, हा विरोधाभास बुद्धीला उलगडत नाही. यात काही लपलेलं तत्त्वज्ञान नाही, फक्त स्वतःकडे प्रामाणिकपणे पाहा. मागून पूर उसळला, नदी-सागर भरून थांबले; वांझ घरात तान्हं बाळ दिसतं, एका कानात एकच बाळी. तुका म्हणतो, ही गोडी फक्त अनुभवणाराच जाणतो.
ही ओवी लोहगावच्या चमत्कारावेळी रचली गेली, जेव्हा कीर्तनात एक मृत मूल पुन्हा जिवंत झालं.
Where this applies
- When you try to explain a deeply moving spiritual experience in words and the words keep falling short
- When something happens that you cannot logically account for, yet you know it happened
- When you keep searching for a hidden doctrine or secret formula instead of simply looking at your own life
- When you witness an unexplainable moment of grace or healing and are left simply speechless