Abhanga 2656
The verse offers a meditation on inherent-quality vs. acquired-quality. Chandana doesn't have to manufacture its fragrance; parisa doesn't have to perform its touchstone-property. The qualities are bāṇōnī rāhilē — embedded-and-remaining. When you recognize someone (or yourself) operating from genuine sujātī (inherent-good-character), no khantī (anxious lament) is required. The piercing-image is also useful: sometimes a quality only releases when the vēdhaliyā (piercing) happens — the wood when carved, the bhakta when struck. The piercing is what makes them sanmukha (face-to-face) with the Lord, not a hindrance to it.
The verse
चंदन तो चंदनपणें । सहज गुणसंपन्न ॥१॥
वेधलिया धन्य जाती । भाग्यें होती सन्मुख ॥ध्रु.॥
परिसा अंगीं परिसपण । बाणोनि तें राहिलें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कैंची खंती । सुजाती ते ठाकणी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Sandalwood is sandalwood by its very chandana-paṇa (sandalwood-ness) — sahaja guṇa-sampanna (naturally guṇa-rich). The pierced-lineage becomes blessed; by fortune they become sanmukha (face-to-face, facing-toward). The touchstone has parisa-paṇa (touchstone-property) embedded — having entered, it remains. Tukā says: where is the khantī (lament)? Sujātī (good-lineage) is what ṭhākaṇī (stands-settled).
What it means
A small inherent-quality image-verse. Chandana tō chandana-paṇē — sahaja guṇa-sampanna — sandalwood is sandalwood by sandalwood-ness — naturally guṇa-rich. The image: sandalwood has its fragrance not by acquired-virtue but by chandana-paṇa — the sandalwood-character itself. Sahaja (natural, effortless) + guṇa-sampanna (rich-in-virtue) — the fragrance is part of the wood's-being.
The dhrūpada: vēdhaliyā dhanya jātī — bhāgye hōtī sanmukha — the pierced (vēdhaliyā = pierced, drilled-through) lineage becomes blessed; by fortune they become face-to-face. Sandalwood is vēdhalā (pierced) when carved — and that very piercing releases its quality. The vēdhaliyā lineage — the ones who have been pierced by bhakti — become dhanya (blessed). And bhāgye sanmukha — by good fortune face-to-face — they meet the Lord directly.
The second verse: parisā angīm parisa-paṇa — bāṇōnī tē rāhilē — the touchstone has touchstone-property in its body — embedded, it stays. The parisa (philosopher's stone, touchstone) — the legendary stone that turns iron to gold by mere contact — has parisa-paṇa (its touchstone-character) bāṇōnī — fastened-in, embedded — and rāhilēm — remains. Not added, not acquired — embedded-and-remains.
The close: kaiñchī khantī — sujātī tē ṭhākaṇī — where is the lament? Good-lineage is what stands-settled. Khantī — lament, regret — is asked-after rhetorically. Sujātī (good-lineage, well-born) is ṭhākaṇī (stands-settled, established). The implication: when the sujātī is settled, khantī has no place. The genuine inherent-quality does not lament its condition.
For someone today
The verse offers a meditation on inherent-quality vs. acquired-quality. Chandana doesn't have to manufacture its fragrance; parisa doesn't have to perform its touchstone-property. The qualities are bāṇōnī rāhilē — embedded-and-remaining. When you recognize someone (or yourself) operating from genuine sujātī (inherent-good-character), no khantī (anxious lament) is required. The piercing-image is also useful: sometimes a quality only releases when the vēdhaliyā (piercing) happens — the wood when carved, the bhakta when struck. The piercing is what makes them sanmukha (face-to-face) with the Lord, not a hindrance to it.
Where this applies
- Recognizing inherent-quality in oneself or another without anxious-maintenance
- The piercing-image — sometimes the quality releases only when one is pierced
- The sujātī-ṭhākaṇī (good-lineage-settled) condition that needs no lament
- Sahaja guṇa-sampanna — naturally guṇa-rich — as a stable-state