Abhanga 2661
Surrendering the body and its elements into the sacred fire does not destroy them, it returns them to their source, leaving only the Name as the one relationship that remains, and that remainder is joy.
The verse
बोळविला देह आपुलेनि हातें । हुताशिलीं भूतें ब्रम्हाग्नीसीं ॥१॥
एकवेळे जालें सकळ कारण । आतां नारायण नारायण ॥ध्रु.॥
अमृतसंजीवनी निवविली खाईं । अंगें तये ठायीं हारपलीं ॥२॥
एकादशीविध जागरण उपवास । बारावा दिवस भोजनाचा ॥३॥
अवघीं कर्में जालीं घटस्पोटापाशीं । संबंध एकेसी उरला नामीं ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे आतां आनंदीं आनंदु । गोविंदीं गोविंदु विस्तारला ॥५॥
Literal translation
I have bōḷavilā (sent off, escorted-out) the body by my own hand — the bhūtas (the five elements) have been offered (hutāśilīm) into the brahmāgni (brahma-fire). At one-time-stroke the entire kāraṇa (cause) has been done — now Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa. The amrta-samjīvanī (immortality-resurrecting elixir) cooled the khāī (pit, cremation-trench); the body-parts hārapalīm (disappeared) in that place. The Ekādaśī-vidhi (11th-day rite) — vigil and fast; the 12th day is the bhōjana (feast). All actions have happened near the pot-bursting (ghaṭa-spōṭa); the relationship that has remained is the one in the Name. Tukā says: now ānandīm ānandu (bliss in bliss) — Govindīm Govindu vistāralā (Govinda has spread in Govinda).
What it means
The third abhang of the 4-verse self-cremation sequence continues with the post-cremation rituals. Bōḷavilā deha āpulēnī hātē — hutāśilīm bhūtē brahmāgnīsī — I sent off the body by my own hand — the bhūtas (five-elements) were offered into the brahma-fire. The bhūtas are the five elements that constitute the body (earth, water, fire, air, ether); in real funeral-rites, each element returns to its source. Here, the bhakta offers all five into brahmāgni (the fire-of-brahma) — they go directly to brahma, not to their separate elemental sources.
The dhrūpada: ekā-vēḷē jālēm sakaḷa kāraṇa — ātām Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa — at one-time the entire cause has been done — now Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa. Sakaḷa kāraṇa (the whole cause-of-samsāra) has been resolved at one-stroke (ekā-vēḷē). All that remains is the Name — said twice for emphasis.
The second verse: amrta-samjīvanī nivavilī khāī — angē tayē ṭhāyī hārapalīm — the immortality-samjīvanī (resurrecting-elixir) cooled the cremation-pit; the body-parts disappeared in that place. Amrta-samjīvanī — the legendary herb that revives the dead — has cooled the khāī (cremation-trench). The body-parts have not been burned-away; they have hārapalī (disappeared) into the immortality-cool.
The third verse names the calendar: Ekādaśī-vidhi jāgaraṇa upavāsa — bārāvā divasa bhōjanāchā — the Ekādaśī-vidhi vigil-fast; the 12th day is the feast. In Vārkarī observance, Ekādaśī (the 11th lunar day) is the canonical-fast-day; the 12th day breaks the fast with food. Tukārām maps the post-funeral ritual-calendar onto this Vārkarī observance: the 11th day's vigil-fast and the 12th day's feast.
The fourth verse: avaghīm karmē jālīm ghaṭa-spōṭāpāśī — sambandha ēkē sī uralā nāmīm — all karmas have been done near the pot-bursting; the one-relationship that remains is in the Name. The ghaṭa-spōṭa (pot-bursting, from 2659) was the moment of release; from that moment, only the Name-relationship remains.
The close: ānandīm ānandu — Govindīm Govindu vistāralā — bliss in bliss; Govinda has spread in Govinda. The final-state is the recursion of bliss-in-bliss, Govinda-in-Govinda — no separation, no distance, only the spreading-out of the same into itself.
For someone today
This verse hands you a striking image: all five elements of the body offered into brahma-fire, the immortality-samjīvanī cools the cremation-pit, the body disappears (doesn't burn-into-ashes), and Govinda spreads in Govinda. The contemplative-conclusion is that the bhakta who performs his own anta-karma is not annihilated; he is amrta-samjīvanī-cooled — the elements are not destroyed but returned to the brahma-fire, which is the source. The mapping onto Ekādaśī-vidhi grounds the symbolic-funeral in the Vārkarī's actual practice: the fast-and-vigil is the inner-equivalent of the post-funeral 11th-day rite. Sambandha ēkēsī uralā nāmīm — the one-relationship that remains is in the Name — names what survives the symbolic-cremation.
मराठी: हा अभंग एक ठळक प्रतिमा देतो: देहाची पाचही मूलतत्त्वे ब्रह्माग्नीत अर्पण केली जातात, अमृतसंजीवनी स्मशान-खाईला थंड करते, देह जळून राखेत रूपांतरित न होता नाहीसा होतो, आणि गोविंदात गोविंद विस्तारतो. यातून चिंतनाचा निष्कर्ष असा निघतो की जो भक्त स्वतःचे अंत्यकर्म स्वतः करतो तो नष्ट होत नाही; तो अमृतसंजीवनीने शीतल होतो — पंचमहाभूते नष्ट होत नाहीत, तर आपल्या उगमस्थानी, ब्रह्माग्नीत परत जातात. एकादशी-विधीशी केलेली सांगड या प्रतीकात्मक अंत्यविधीला वारकऱ्यांच्या प्रत्यक्ष आचरणाशी जोडते — उपवास आणि जागरण हे मरणोत्तर अकराव्या दिवसाच्या विधीचे आंतरिक रूप आहे. संबंध एकेसी उरला नामी — जे उरते ते केवळ नामाशी असलेले नाते — हेच या प्रतीकात्मक दहनानंतर टिकून राहते.
Where this applies
- The post-cremation phase of the inner-funeral vision
- Mapping the Ekādaśī-vidhi vigil-fast onto symbolic anta-karma
- Govinda spreading in Govinda as the final-state recursion
- Recognizing that the one-relationship-that-remains is the Name-relationship