Abhanga 2640
The verse
तुझ्या रूपें माझी काया भरों द्यावी पंढरीराया । दर्पणींची छाया एका रूपें भिन्नत्व ॥१॥
सुख पडिलें साटवण सत्ता वेचे शनें शनें । अडचणीचे कोन चारी मार्ग उगवले ॥ध्रु.॥
वसो डोळ्यांची बाहुली कवळे भिन्न छाया आली । कृष्णांजन चाली नव्हे प्रति माघारी ॥२॥
जीव ठसावला शिवें मना आलें तेथें जावें । फांटा पडिला नांवें तुका म्हणे खंडलें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Let my body be filled with your form, Paṇḍharī-rāya — like the mirror's reflection, one-form-with-different-individuality. Bliss has settled into sāṭavaṇa (store); authority pours slowly; the four difficult corners (aḍacaṇī-chē kōna chārī) have been overcome. Let the eye-pupil-doll (ḍōḷyāñchī bāhulī) house — the encompassed differently-shadow has come; Krṣṇa-collyrium movement does not return as reflection. The jīva is ṭhasāvalā (stamped, imprinted) in Śiva — the mind has gone where it would go. Tukā says: a branch fell in name — it has been khaṇḍalēm (settled, ended).
What it means
A philosophically-dense verse that contains the celebrated darpaṇa-chāyā (mirror-reflection) bhakti-image. Tujhyā rūpē mājhī kāyā bharō dyāvī Paṇḍharī-rāya — let my body be filled with your form, Paṇḍharī-rāya. The petition is for the body-as-vessel to be filled with the Lord's form.
The next clause names the relation precisely: darpaṇīñchī chāyā — ēkā rūpē bhinnatva — the mirror's reflection — one form, with different individuality. This is one of Tukārām's most elegant philosophical-images: the mirror-reflection is the same form as the original yet different in individuality (the reflection is not the original; it depends on the original; it disappears if the mirror is removed). The bhakta-Lord relation is exactly this — same form, different individuality. Neither identity nor difference; the mirror-relation.
The dhrūpada: sukha paḍilēm sāṭavaṇa — sattā vēchē śanē-śanē — aḍacaṇī-chē kōna chārī mārga ugavalē — bliss has settled into store; authority pours slowly; the four difficult corners' paths have been overcome. The bhakti-economy: bliss accumulates in storage, authority is spent slowly (not in haste), and the four-corner difficulties (the cardinal-directions of aḍacaṇa) have their paths cleared.
The second verse extends the eye-image: vasō ḍōḷyāñchī bāhulī kavaḷē bhinna chāyā ālī — Krṣṇāñjana chālī navhē prati māghārī — let the eye-pupil-doll house; the encompassed-different-shadow has come; the Krṣṇa-eye-collyrium movement does not return as reflection. Bāhulī is the eye-pupil (literally doll); the bāhulī houses a small shadow. Krṣṇāñjana — Krṣṇa-darkening, eye-collyrium of Krṣṇa-applied — once applied, its movement does not return as a reflection. The bhakta who has the Krṣṇāñjana applied no longer sees the reflective-double; the seeing has been single-direction.
The close: jīva ṭhasāvalā Śivē — manā ālēm tēthē jāvē — phāmṭā paḍilā nāvē — khaṇḍalēm — the jīva has been stamped (ṭhasāvalā = imprinted, sealed) in Śiva — the mind has gone where it has gone; a branch (phāmṭā) fell in name — it is settled. The jīva-Śiva ṭhasāvalā (imprint-stamp) image is the same-form-different-individuality from the mirror-image again — sealed-by-identity, distinct-as-impression.
For someone today
The mirror-reflection model offers a useful framework for any identification-with-the-other relation: same form, different individuality. When you genuinely love someone, you fill with their form — but you don't become them; the bhinnatva (different individuality) remains. The verse extends this to bhakti and to the jīva-Śiva relation. The other side of the image is also instructive: once the Krṣṇāñjana (Krṣṇa-eye-collyrium) is applied, the movement does not return as reflection. Some sights, once seen with the right eye-lining, no longer have to be checked-back-and-forth; the seeing has become single-direction. The phāmṭā khaṇḍalēm — the branch has settled — names that completion.
Where this applies
- Bhakti-identification with the Lord — same-form-different-individuality
- Any deep love-relation where filling-with-the-other doesn't dissolve the bhinnatva
- The jīva-Śiva impression-stamp model in advanced bhakti
- The single-direction seeing after Krṣṇāñjana has been applied