Abhanga 2474
The verse
लवण मेळवितां जळें । काय उरलें निराळें ॥१॥ तैसा समरस जालों । तुजमाजी हरपलों ॥ध्रु.॥ अग्निकर्पुराच्या मेळीं । काय उरली काजळी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे होती । तुझी माझी एक ज्योती ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: ★★★ Salt mixing with water — what remains separate ★★★. ★★★ Such samarasa I became — lost in you ★★★. ★ Fire-camphor mixing — what soot remains ★. ★★★ Tuka says: your and my flame is one ★★★.
What it means
★★★ THE MOST-CELEBRATED TUKĀRĀM SAMARASA (NON-DUAL MERGE) ABHANG ★★★. Three concentric merging-images in 4 verses.
Three merging-images, each more-complete-than-the-last:
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★★★ Salt-in-water ★★★ — lavaṇa mēḷavitām jaḷē — kāya uralē nirāḷē — ★★★ salt mixing with water — what remains separate ★★★. Salt dissolves invisible-but-still-there (= mostly-merged).
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★ Fire-camphor ★ — agni-karpūrāchyā mēḷīm — kāya uralī kājaḷī — fire-camphor mixing — no soot remains. Camphor burns leaving-no-residue-at-all (= complete-disappearance, more-total than-salt-in-water).
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★★★ ONE-FLAME ★★★ — Tukā mhaṇē hōtī — tujhī mājhī ēka jyōtī — ★★★ your and my flame is one ★★★. ★★★ Your-flame and-my-flame are-one. ★★★ Final-image: no-separation-at-all, single-flame.
★ THE SAMARASA-CLAIM ★: taisā samarasa jālōm — tujamājī harapalōm — ★★★ such samarasa I became — lost in you ★★★. Samarasa = equal-essence, full-merge, non-dual-identity. ★★★ Such samarasa I-became; lost-in-you. ★★★
★★★ HISTORICAL-CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE ★★★: - One of THE most-anthologized Tukārām abhangs alongside 2471 (vṛkṣa-vallī) - Daily-quoted in Vārkarī kīrtans as the model-of-bhakti-mokṣa-merge - The three-image-structure (salt → camphor → one-flame) is a celebrated example of Tukārām's poetic-craft - Resolves the bhakti-Advaita tension — claims non-dual-merge via bhakti, not against it - Sung at samādhi-and-funeral occasions as the ideal-merge-with-divinity
Compare 2417's fruit-is-seed, gold-ornaments-are-names-only. Together, 2417 and 2474 form Tukārām's mature bhakti-Advaita synthesis: bhakti-leads-to non-dual-merge.
[T]
For someone today
For today: ★★★ salt in water — what separate? ★★★; ★ fire-camphor — no soot ★; ★★★ your-flame and my-flame are one ★★★.
Where this applies
- ★★★ Salt-mixing-water-no-separation ★★★. ★★★ Lavaṇa-mēḷavitām-jaḷē-uralē-nirāḷē ★★★.
- Fire-camphor-no-soot. Agni-karpūrāchyā-mēḷīm-uralī-kājaḷī.
- ★★★ Your-and-my-flame-is-one ★★★. ★★★ Tujhī-mājhī-ēka-jyōtī ★★★.