संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2341 of 4582

Abhanga 2341

When devotion is real, it erases the line between pure and impure and lets you see the sacred in every being.

When you judge a person or place as impure and want to question that habit of mind.

When you practice small acts of worship and wonder if they can actually change how you see the world.

When you want compassion and patience to guide how you treat people instead of old prejudices.

The verse

लवविलें तया सवे लवे जाती । अभिमाना हातीं सांपडेना ॥१॥ भोळिवेचें लेणें विष्णुदासां साजे । तेथें भाव दुजे हारपती ॥ध्रु.॥ अर्चन वंदन नवविधा भक्ति । दया क्षमा शांति ठायीं ॥२॥ तये गांवीं नाहीं दुःखाची वसती । अवघा चि भूतीं नारायण ॥३॥ अवघें चि जालें सोंवळें ब्रम्हांड । विटाळाचें तोंड न देखती ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे गाजे वैकुंठीं सोहळा । याही भूमंडळामाजी कीर्ति ॥५॥

Literal translation

By bending with the bender they go — they aren't caught in the hand of abhimāna. Simplicity is the ornament of Viṣṇu-dāsas — there other-bhāva dissolves. Archana, vandana — nine-fold bhakti — dayā, kṣamā, śānti — in place. In that village, no duḥkha-dwelling — Nārāyaṇa in every bhūta. The whole brahmāṇḍa has become sōmvaḷa — they don't see viṭāḷa's face. Tuka says: the sōhaḷā resounds in Vaikuṇṭha — and in this earth-circle, the kīrti.

What it means

THE WHOLE-BRAHMĀṆḌA-HAS-BECOME-SŌṀVAḶA ABHANG. 5+1-verse description of-the-bhakta's-world.

THE CELEBRATED TRANSFORMATION LINE: avaghē chi jālē sōmvaḷē brahmāṇḍa — viṭāḷāchē tōṇḍa na dēkhatī — the whole brahmāṇḍa has become sōmvaḷa — they don't see viṭāḷa's face. Sōmvaḷa = ritually-pure (the opposite of viṭāḷa). For-the-Viṣṇu-dāsas, the whole brahmāṇḍa-has-become-sōmvaḷa; they-don't-see-the-face of-viṭāḷa anymore. A profound transformation of-perception — what-was-once-marked-by-ritual-impurity is-now-everywhere-pure.

The other verses build-the-picture of-this-transformed-world: nine-fold-bhakti, dayā-kṣamā-śānti, Nārāyaṇa-in-every-bhūta, no-duḥkha-dwelling, sōhaḷā-in-Vaikuṇṭha-and-on-earth.

[T]

For someone today

For today: the whole brahmāṇḍa has become sōmvaḷa — they don't see viṭāḷa's face.

Where this applies

When you catch yourself treating someone or something as impure or unworthy
When practicing daily devotion starts changing how ordinary life looks to you
When you want compassion and patience to replace judgment in your dealings with others
When you notice suffering easing in a place shaped by real kindness and humility