Abhanga 2646
How long again-and-again the same — I have said much. Now my daṇḍavata to your sant-feet. Love is forever-new — settled in the jīva. Tukā: it has gone well — what was at the port has come home.
The verse
तें च किती वारंवार । बोलों फार बोलिलें ॥१॥
आतां माझें दंडवत । तुमच्या संत चरणांसी ॥ध्रु.॥
आवडी ते नीच नवी । जाली जीवीं वसती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बरवें जालें । घरा आलें बंदरीचें ॥३॥
Literal translation
How often the same thing again-and-again? — I have said much. Now my daṇḍavata (prostration) to your sant-feet. Love is nīcha-navī (forever-new) — settled in the jīva. Tukā says: it has gone well — what was at the bandara (port) has come home.
What it means
A small, generous verse. Tē chi kitī vāramvāra — bōlōm phāra bōlilēm — how long again-and-again the same — I have said much. The bhakta acknowledges that speech has done what it can. Vāramvāra (over-and-over) and phāra bōlilēm (said much) — the speech-account is closed.
The dhrūpada: ātām mājhē daṇḍavata — tumchyā santa-charaṇāmsī — now my daṇḍavata (prostration, body-laid-out-straight) at your sant-feet. Daṇḍavata — the full body-prostration where the body lies straight like a daṇḍa (staff). When speech has been enough, the gesture takes over. Notice the address — santa-charaṇāmsī — to your sant-feet. Not the Lord's feet abstractly; the sants' feet specifically.
The second verse: āvaḍī tē nīcha-navī — jālī jīvīm vasatī — love is forever-new — settled in the jīva. Nīcha-navī (forever-new, never-staling) is the property of bhakti-love; vasatī (dwelling, settled-residence) — it has taken up residence in the jīva.
The close: baravēm jālēm — gharā ālēm bandarīchē — it has gone well — what was at the port has come home. Bandara — the port, the harbour. The image is of cargo or a traveler that was at the bandara (just arrived but still in transit) finally coming gharā (home). The journey from port to home has been completed.
For someone today
There is a moment in any long relationship — with a teacher, a tradition, a love — when speech has been enough. The right response then is not more speech; it is daṇḍavata. The verse names two things specifically: the prostration is to the sant-feet (the community of practice, not abstracted-Lord), and the love has now settled in the jīva — vasatī — taken up residence. The home arrival image is precise: what had arrived at the bandara (port) has now come gharā (home). The port-to-home distance is small but the arrival is total.
Where this applies
- After much explanation, choosing the gesture instead of more speech
- Daṇḍavata-to-sant-feet as the practice-community recognition
- Love settling-in-the-jīva rather than being-spoken-about
- The bandara-to-ghar arrival image — port-to-home