संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2368 of 4582

Abhanga 2368

Serve one God with single-minded devotion, treat every person as a manifestation of the divine, and trust that falseness eventually gets sorted out like stones from grain.

When you choose to give your full loyalty to one commitment instead of scattering it

When you treat a stranger or servant with the same respect you would give someone sacred

When you trust that time and testing will eventually separate what is false from what is true

The verse

नमितों या देवा । माझी एके ठायीं सेवा ॥१॥ गुणअवगुण निवाडा । म्हैस म्हैस रेडा रेडा ॥ध्रु.॥ जनीं जनार्दन । साक्ष त्यासी लोटांगण ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे खडे । निवडू दळणीं घडघडे ॥३॥ ॥८॥

Literal translation

I bow to this Dēva — my service in one place. Virtue-vice judgment — buffalo-buffalo, calf-calf. Janārdana in people — prostration to that witness. Tuka says: stones — will be separated in the grinding-mill, rattling. ॥8॥ (closing-colophon of 8-abhang Sālōmālō-cluster).

What it means

CLOSING OF THE 8-ABHANG SĀLŌMĀLŌ-ANTI-PLAGIARIST CLUSTER (2362-2368). The ॥८॥ colophon marks the boundary.

The exclusive-service: namitōm yā Dēvā — mājhī ēkē ṭhāyīm sēvā — I bow to this Dēva — my service in one place. I-bow to-this-Dēva (Viṭhṭhal); my-service in-one-place (= exclusive-bhakti).

The like-with-like: guṇa-avaguṇa nivāḍā — mhaisa mhaisa rēḍā rēḍā — virtue-vice judgment — buffalo-buffalo, calf-calf. Virtue-vice judgment: buffalo-with-buffalo, calf-with-calf (= like-judges-like).

THE JANĀRDANA-IN-PEOPLE LINE: janīm Janārdana — sākṣa tyāsī lōṭāngaṇa — Janārdana in people — prostration to that witness. Janārdana (Lord) is-in-people; prostration to-that-witness. The famous bhakti-egalitarian-line — God dwells-in-all-people.

The stones-out: Tukā mhaṇē khaḍē — nivaḍū daḷaṇīm ghaḍaghaḍē — Tuka says: stones — will be separated in the grinding-mill, rattling. The stones (false-grain, like Sālōmālō's-imitation) will-be-separated-out, rattling, in-the-grinding-mill (= the test-of-time).

THE 8-ABHANG SĀLŌMĀLŌ-CLUSTER (2362-2368): - 2362: swan-separates-milk-from-water + prose-marginalia announcement - 2363: Sālōmālō-named-directly + breaks-saints'-words-makes-them-his-ornaments - 2364: ornament-thieves + beating-worship + ornament-becomes-mud - 2365: poison-in-amṛta + cut-nose-apply-gold + before-midwife-hide-placenta - 2366: mud-as-bukā + bhāva-separates-true-from-false + Tukā-real-others-sham - 2367: false-advaita-in-viṣaya — Dēva is niṣkāma-apart - 2368: janīm Janārdana — sākṣa + stones-rattle-out-of-grinding ॥८॥

[T]

For someone today

For today: my service in one place; like-judges-like; Janārdana in people — prostration to that witness ; stones rattle out of the grinding-mill.

Where this applies

When you are deciding whether to spread your devotion thin or commit fully to one path
When you meet an ordinary person and have the chance to treat them with real reverence
When you are waiting for someone's dishonesty to be exposed over time
When you wonder whether serving people is the same as serving God

Bhakti