Abhanga 2623
Necessarily, now, do the comforting — don't look for the nirvāṇa-end. If done, then now make it shine; it appears good among sants. The bhakta-king has not kept credit on the books — the form of the Name is by their effort. Tukā: my elders' stored-thing — let Nārāyaṇa not make it secret.
The verse
आतां आवश्यक करणें समाधान । पाहिलें निर्वाण न पाहिजे ॥१॥
केलें तरीं आतां शुशोभें करावें । दिसतें बरवें संतांमधीं ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं भक्तराजीं ठेविला उधार । नामाचा आकार त्यांचियानें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझ्या वडिलांचें ठेवणें । गोप्य नारायणें न करावें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Necessarily, now, do the comforting — don't look for the nirvāṇa (final-end). If done — then now make it shine; it appears good among sants. The bhakta-king (Deva who is king of bhaktas) has not kept udhāra (credit, debt-on-the-books); the form of the Name is by their (the bhaktas') effort. Tukā says: my elders' stored-thing — let Nārāyaṇa not keep secret.
What it means
A small finish-the-work ethic verse. Ātām āvaśyaka karaṇē samādhāna — now necessarily do the comforting (samādhāna = calming, satisfying-completion). Pāhilē nirvāṇa na pāhijē — don't look at the nirvāṇa-end as the goal. The push: do not save the satisfaction-completing for some final-end; do it now, here, in the work.
The dhrūpada: kēlēm tarī ātām śuśōbhē karāvē — disatē baravē santāmmadhīm — if done, then now make it shine; it appears good among sants. Śuśōbhē karāvē — make-it-shine — is the imperative. The work is done; now polish it, complete it, shine it. The audience-criterion is santāmmadhīm — among the sants — the assembly that knows the difference between done and shining.
The second verse names a Vārkarī accountancy principle: nāhī bhakta-rājīm ṭhēvilā udhāra — the bhakta-king has not kept things on credit (udhāra). Nāmācā ākāra tyāñchiyānē — the form of the Name is by their (bhaktas') effort. The Lord (bhakta-king) does not let bhaktas' offerings sit as unpaid-credit; everything offered comes back as Nāma-ākāra — the Name's-form, the manifested-shape of bhakti.
The close is a Tukārām-family-tradition petition: mājhyā vaḍilāñchē ṭhēvaṇē — gōpya Nārāyaṇē na karāvē — my elders' stored-thing — let Nārāyaṇa not make secret. The vaḍila-ṭhēvaṇē (the stored-thing of the elders) is the inherited-bhakti from his ancestors; Tukārām asks the Lord not to keep it hidden in his case. The inheritance must be manifested-out, not kept gōpya (secret, hidden).
For someone today
There is a tendency to defer satisfaction to a final-end (nirvāṇa) and to leave work done rather than shining. Tukārām pushes against both. Necessarily, now, do the comforting. If done, then now make it shine. The audience that knows the difference is the santa-assembly — those who can see the polish. And do not let your elders' inheritance — what they stored for you — remain hidden; petition for it to be manifested out, made ākāra (form), not kept gōpya (secret).
Where this applies
- A nearly-finished project tempted to stop short of shining
- Trusting that nothing offered to genuine bhakti sits on credit
- The intergenerational request — let the inherited-bhakti manifest in me, not stay hidden
- Make-it-shine-among-sants as a quality-criterion