Abhanga 2628
This is not the petty merchant's wares — Nārāyaṇa is forever-new. Bliss arises from listening — the real, mint-stamped coin. Gain comes hand-to-hand, more and more onward. Tukā: I don't know how much — filled and yet still remains.
The verse
नव्हे मतोळ्याचा वाण । नीच नवा नारायण ॥१॥
सुख उपजे श्रवणें । खरें टांकसाळी नाणें ॥ध्रु.॥
लाभ हातोहातीं । अधिक पुढतोंपुढती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे नेणों किती । पुरोनि उरलें पुढती ॥३॥
Literal translation
This is not the petty merchant's wares — Nārāyaṇa is nīcha-navā (forever-new, ever-low-fresh). Bliss arises from listening — the genuine, mint-stamped coin. Gain is hand-to-hand, more and more onward. Tukā says: I don't know how much — filled and yet still remains.
What it means
A short commerce-metaphor verse. Navhē matōḷyāchā vāṇa — nīcha-navā Nārāyaṇa — not the petty merchant's wares — Nārāyaṇa is forever-new. Matōḷyā is a small-time merchant who specializes in retail. Vāṇa — wares, merchandise. Tukārām distinguishes the bhakti-commerce from the petty-merchant trade. Nīcha-navā — a striking compound meaning forever-new, freshly-arising every moment — Nārāyaṇa is never stale stock.
The dhrūpada: sukha upajē śravaṇē — kharē ṭānkasāḷī nāṇē — bliss arises from listening — the genuine mint-stamped coin. Ṭānkasāḷī nāṇē (mint-house coin, official-stamped currency) is the authenticated currency, not counterfeit. The bliss-from-śravaṇa is currency that passes everywhere, never refused, never devalued.
The second verse: lābha hātōhātīm — adhika puḍhatōm-puḍhatī — gain hand-to-hand, more and more onward. Bhakti-commerce works hand-to-hand — immediate transfer, no waiting, no credit. And the gain increases as it changes hands.
The close: nēṇōm kitī — pūrōnī uralē puḍhatī — I don't know how much — filled and yet still remains. The Vārkarī claim: the bhakti-store is so full that even after one has filled-up, there is still more.
For someone today
If your spiritual practice is feeling like petty-merchant exchange — small transactions, anxious negotiations, fear of running out — the verse offers the contrast: real bhakti-currency is mint-stamped, hand-to-hand, more-and-more-onward, filled-and-still-remains. The diagnostic test is nīcha-navā — is what you receive forever-new, or is it stale stock? Real practice produces sukha-upajē-śravaṇē — bliss that arises right in the listening itself — not deferred bliss, not contingent bliss, but bliss that happens in the act.
Where this applies
- Distinguishing genuine practice from anxious-merchant calculations
- Recognizing the hand-to-hand quality of real bhakti-commerce
- The bliss-that-arises-in-śravaṇa test for whether listening is landing
- Inexhaustible-store reassurance — pūrōnī uralē (filled-and-still-remains)