Abhanga 2632
After bad company is finally swept away, use the resulting solitude to think clearly on your own, and trust that lingering regret and worry disappearing is the real sign something has shifted.
The verse
ज्यांच्या संगें होतों पडिलों भोवनीं । ते केली धोवनी झाडूनियां ॥१॥
आतां एकाएकीं मनासीं विचार । करूं नाहीं भार दुजा याचा ॥ध्रु.॥
प्रसादसेवनें आली उष्टावळी । उचित ते काळीं अवचित ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे वर्म सांपडलें हातीं । सांडिली ते खंती चिंता देवा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Those in whose company I kept falling-around — they have been cleaned-by-sweeping-them-away. Now alone-by-one with the mind, do thinking — don't bear the burden of a second. From eating the prasāda, leftovers (uṣṭāvaḷī) came; the fitting thing at that time — by coincidence. Tukā says: the varma (secret-technique) has been caught in hand — Deva has discarded the khantī chintā (worry-and-burden).
What it means
A small, autobiographical-feeling verse on the moment of post-clean-up clarity. Jyāñchyā sangē hōtōm paḍilōm bhōvanī — tē kēlī dhōvanī jhāḍūniyām — those in whose company I was falling-around — they have been cleaned-by-sweeping-them-away. Bhōvanī — falling, rolling, getting-dizzy — is the somatic effect of bad company. Dhōvanī jhāḍūniyām — washed/cleansed by sweeping — is the deliberate-removal. The agent of the cleaning is left implicit but understood: the Lord's grace, the practice, the slow attrition of bhakti.
The dhrūpada: ātām ēkā-ēkīm manāsī vichāra — karūm nāhī bhāra dujā yāchā — now alone-by-one with the mind, do thinking — don't bear the burden of a second. The post-clean-up state is ēkā-ēkīm (one-by-one, alone) — no longer a dujā (second-party) crowd in the head. The instruction is to use this alone-state for vichāra (proper thinking-discernment).
The second verse contains a curious image: prasāda-sēvanēm ālī uṣṭāvaḷī — uchita tē kāḷīm avachita — from eating the prasāda came leftovers (uṣṭāvaḷī); the fitting thing, at that time, by accident (avachita). The bhakta acknowledges that what came was the uṣṭāvaḷī — leftover-prasāda — but adds that uchita tē kāḷīm avachita — the right-thing-at-that-time-was-by-accident. Avachita (unexpected, unsolicited) and uchita (fitting) come together — the unexpected was the fitting.
The close: varma sāmpaḍalē hātīm — sāṇḍilī tē khantī chintā Devā — the secret has been caught in hand — Deva has discarded the worry-and-burden. Varma (secret-technique, hidden-knack) — the operative skill has finally been grasped. Khantī chintā (regret-and-worry) — the Lord himself has discarded these.
For someone today
There is a particular kind of clarity that arrives after the company that was making you paḍilōm bhōvanī (fall-around-dizzy) has been dhōvanī jhāḍūniyām — cleaned-by-sweeping. Notice when this has happened in your life and use the post-clean-up state correctly: alone-by-one with the mind, do thinking — don't bring in a second. Even uṣṭāvaḷī (leftovers) is acceptable food in this state — the fitting thing, at that time, by accident. And the test that the varma (technique) has been caught is somatic: khantī chintā (regret-and-worry) is gone.
Where this applies
- A season after toxic friendships, addictions, or company-of-the-falling have been cleared
- Using ēkā-ēkīm alone-state for proper vichāra
- Accepting uṣṭāvaḷī (leftovers) as the uchita-avachita (fitting-by-accident) gift
- The somatic test — khantī-chintā (regret-worry) gone — for varma having landed