संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2501 of 4582

Abhanga 2501

For today: kṛpā-gift saves; radiant-fresh face is the sign ; truth comes to anubhava .

When you judge someone's inner state by how settled and radiant they actually look, not by what they claim.

When you speak a word of love or devotion and trust it is not wasted even if you see no immediate result.

When you stop taking a truth on belief alone and wait until you have felt it in your own experience.

The verse

नसतों किविलवाणें । कांहीं तुमच्या कृपादानें ॥१॥ हे चि तयाची ओळखी । धालें टवटवित मुखीं ॥ध्रु.॥ वांयां जात नाहीं । वचन प्रीतीचें तें कांहीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे देवा । सत्य येतें अनुभवा ॥३॥

Literal translation

We wouldn't be wretched — without your kṛpā-gift. This is the sign — face becomes radiant-fresh. Not in vain — those words of prīti. Tuka says: Dēvā — truth comes to anubhava.

What it means

THE RADIANT-FACE-IS-THE-SIGN-OF-KṚPĀ ABHANG.

The bhakta-sign: hē chi tayāchī ōḷakhī — dhālē ṭavaṭavita mukhīm — this is the sign — face becomes radiant-fresh. The sign (ōḷakhī) of-the-bhakta is — a radiant-fresh-face. The visible-marker of-bhakti — facial-radiance, not external-religious-markers.

The verification: satya yētē anubhavā — truth comes to anubhava. Truth-arrives-to-direct-experience, not-just-to-belief.

[T]

For someone today

For today: kṛpā-gift saves; radiant-fresh face is the sign ; truth comes to anubhava .

Where this applies

When you wonder whether someone's spiritual practice is genuine and look at how content and at ease they actually seem
When you hesitate to speak a loving or kind word because you doubt it will matter
When you are told to just believe something instead of being allowed to test it through your own experience
When you notice your own face and mood have genuinely lightened after a period of grace or relief

Bhakti