Abhanga 2672
The verse offers a precise honest-diagnostic: I writhe because I do not remember the remedy moment-by-moment. If you know the cure but do not maintain it ghaḍi-ghaḍī, writhing is the symptom, and the cause is your own not-remembering. The remedy is not unavailable — it is on the brick, held there by the gōmaṭē. The work is the moment-by-moment remembering. Notice when you are writhing and trace it back to the not-remembering; do not look for a different cause.
The verse
जीवन उपाय । वैदेवाणी तुझे पाय ॥१॥
ते मी नाठवीं घडिघडी । म्हणोनियां चरफडीं ॥ध्रु.॥
तुटे भवरोग । जेथें सर्व सुखें भोग ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे विटे । धरियेले जें गोमटें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Life's upāya (remedy, means) — like the vaidē-vāṇī (physician's utterance, the prescribed words) are your feet. I do not remember them ghaḍi-ghaḍī (moment by moment) — and therefore I charpaḍī (writhe, twist in distress). The bhava-rōga (samsāra-disease) breaks — where all sukhē-bhōga (pleasure-experiences) reside. Tukā says: held the gōmaṭē (the lovely-one) on the viṭa (brick).
What it means
A short, candid verse on remedy-without-maintenance. Jīvana upāya — vaidē-vāṇī tujhē pāya — life's remedy — like the physician's instructed-utterance are your feet. Vaidē-vāṇī — the prescribed-words of the physician (vaidya + vāṇī) — what the patient must take internally as instruction. The Lord's feet are this prescribed-medicine.
The dhrūpada is the honest-confession: tē mī nāṭhavī ghaḍi-ghaḍī — mhaṇōnīyām charpaḍī — I do not remember them moment-by-moment — and therefore I writhe. Ghaḍi — a small unit of time (about 24 minutes); ghaḍi-ghaḍī — moment-by-moment. Na āṭhavī — I do not remember. Charpaḍī — writhe in distress (a strong somatic word). The diagnosis is precise: the writhing is from the not-remembering, not from anything else.
The second verse: tuṭē bhava-rōga — jēthēm sarva sukhē-bhōga — the bhava-rōga (samsāra-disease) breaks — where all pleasure-experiences are. The cure-effect: the bhava-rōga (the disease-of-existence) is broken at the place where sarva sukhē-bhōga (all pleasure-experiences) reside — i.e., at the feet.
The close: viṭē dharyale jē gōmaṭē — held the loveliness on the brick. The viṭā (brick) is the famous brick on which Viṭṭhala stands in Pandharī — the brick of Puṇḍalīka. Gōmaṭē (the lovely-one) — the affectionate name for Viṭṭhala. The Viṭṭhala-on-the-brick is dharyale (held, sustained) — the gōmaṭē has held the position on the brick out of love-for-the-bhakta.
For someone today
The verse offers a precise honest-diagnostic: I writhe because I do not remember the remedy moment-by-moment. If you know the cure but do not maintain it ghaḍi-ghaḍī, writhing is the symptom, and the cause is your own not-remembering. The remedy is not unavailable — it is on the brick, held there by the gōmaṭē. The work is the moment-by-moment remembering. Notice when you are writhing and trace it back to the not-remembering; do not look for a different cause.
Where this applies
- Knowing the remedy but not maintaining it moment-by-moment
- The honest tracing of one's writhing back to one's not-remembering
- The image of the gōmaṭē-on-the-brick as held-loveliness
- Vaidē-vāṇī (physician's-utterance) as the model for the spiritual-remedy