संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2455 of 4582

Abhanga 2455

The verse

रूपीं जडले लोचन । पायीं स्थिरावलें मन ॥१॥ देहभाव हरपला । तुज पाहातां विठ्ठला ॥ध्रु.॥ कळों नये सुखदुःख । तान हरपली भूक ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे नव्हे परती । तुझ्या दर्शनें मागुती ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: ★★ Eyes fixed on form — mind stilled at feet ★★. ★★ Body-feeling lost — seeing you, Viṭhṭhal ★★. ★ Can't tell sukha-duḥkha — thirst-hunger lost ★. Tuka says: no return — by your darshan.

What it means

★★★ THE DARŚANA-ECSTASY FOUNDATION ABHANG ★★★. One of Tukārām's most-celebrated descriptions of bhakti-immersion.

★★ THE OPENING ★★: rūpīm jaḍalē lōchana — pāyīm sthirāvalē mana★★ eyes fixed on form — mind stilled at feet ★★. ★★ Eyes-fixed (jaḍalē = embedded) in-the-form; mind-stilled (sthirāvalē) at-the-feet. ★★

★★ THE BODY-LOSS ★★: dēha-bhāva harapalā — tuja pāhātām Viṭhṭhalā★★ body-feeling lost — seeing you, Viṭhṭhal ★★. ★★ Body-feeling (dēha-bhāva) is-lost (harapalā); seeing-you, Viṭhṭhal. ★★ The classic samādhi-symptom.

★ THE EQUANIMITY ★: kaḷōm nayē sukha-duḥkha — tāna harapalī bhūka★ can't tell sukha-duḥkha — thirst-hunger lost ★. Cannot-distinguish sukha-from-duḥkha; thirst-and-hunger-lost.

The closing: Tukā mhaṇē navhē paratī — tujhyā darśanē māgutīno return — by your darshan. No-return from-the-state of-darshan.

★★★ HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE ★★★: This is a foundation-text for-Vārkarī descriptions-of-bhakti-experience. The four symptoms — eyes-fixed, mind-stilled, body-lost, sukha-duḥkha-indistinguishable — form the canonical-checklist of-darśana-ecstasy. Used in Vārkarī kīrtans as proof-text for the-reality of-bhakti-experience.

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For someone today

For today: ★★ eyes fixed on form, mind stilled at feet ★★; ★★ body-feeling lost ★★; sukha-duḥkha indistinguishable, thirst-hunger lost; no return.

Where this applies

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