Abhanga 2632
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.
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