संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2432 of 4582

Abhanga 2432

For today: these are not my ornaments — Nārāyaṇa made them proper ; pearl-garlands of words — from the source-affection-spring ; in the meaning-pith is experience; Ananta hasn't let this remain.

When you create something meaningful and feel the pull to take full personal credit for it.

When you want to judge whether an idea or teaching is true by testing it through lived experience.

When you're asked to give away or share credit for work you care about.

The verse

नव्हती हीं माझीं जायाचीं भूषणें । असे नारायणें उचित केलें ॥१॥ शब्दाच्या वोवोनी रत्नाचिया माळा । मुळींच जिव्हाळा झरवणी ॥ध्रु.॥ अर्थांतरीं असे अनुभवसेवन । परिपाकीं मन साक्ष येथें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मज सरतें परतें । हें नाहीं अनंतें उरों दिलें ॥३॥

Literal translation

These aren't my bride's ornaments — Nārāyaṇa made them proper. Stringing pearl-garlands of words — from the source the affection-spring. In the meaning-pith is experience-service — in ripening, mind is witness. Tuka says: for me, completion-and-beyond — Ananta hasn't let this remain.

What it means

THE PEARL-GARLANDS-OF-WORDS META-POETIC ABHANG. One of the most-celebrated statements about Tukārām's own poetry.

The disclaimer: navhatī hīm mājhīm jāyāchīm bhūṣaṇē — asē Nārāyaṇē uchita kēlē — these aren't my bride's ornaments — Nārāyaṇa made them proper. These (abhangs) aren't my-bride's-ornaments (= not-my-personal-poetry); Nārāyaṇa made-them proper. The poetry-is-not-mine — divinely-given.

THE CELEBRATED IMAGE: śabdāñchyā vōvōnī ratnāñchyā māḷā — muḷīmcha jivhāḷā jharavaṇī — stringing pearl-garlands of words — from the source the affection-spring. Stringing pearl-garlands (ratna-māḷā) of-words; from-the-source (muḷīmcha) the-affection-spring (jivhāḷā-jharavaṇī = spring of-tender-feeling). The abhangs as pearl-jewelry strung-by-Tukārām but-the-pearls-come-from-the-source-affection-spring. A foundational meta-poetic statement — Tukārām's poetry is Nārāyaṇa's-jewelry threaded through the bhakta's-affection.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This image is central to the Vārkarī self-understanding of saint-poetry — the abhangs are not human-compositions but divine-pearls threaded-through-the-bhakta. Compare with Jñāneśvar's similar disclaimers (mājhē bōla mājhē navhē). Used as a hermeneutic-key for-approaching Tukārām's-poetry.

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For someone today

For today: these are not my ornaments — Nārāyaṇa made them proper; pearl-garlands of words — from the source-affection-spring; in the meaning-pith is experience; Ananta hasn't let this remain.

Where this applies

When you finish something you're proud of, like a piece of writing, art, or teaching, and feel pulled to take all the credit.
When you sense your best ideas came from somewhere beyond your own effort, through a teacher, tradition, or moment of grace.
When you want to test whether an insight is true not by how clever it sounds but by living it out over time.
When you're tempted to hold onto praise or ownership instead of offering your work outward.

Nāma (the Name) Bhakti