Abhanga 2673
When your heart is already entangled and settled in love, you cannot argue your way out of it, so ask persuaders with folded hands to stop entreating rather than trying to refute them.
The verse
ऐका हें वचन माझें संतजन । विनवितों जोडुन कर तुम्हां ॥१॥
तर्क करूनियां आपुल्या भावना । बोलतिया जना कोण वारी ॥ध्रु.॥
आमुच्या जीवींचा तो चि जाणे भावो । रकुमाईंचा नाहो पांडुरंग ॥२॥
चित्त माझें त्याचे गुंतलेंसे पायीं । म्हणऊनि कांहीं नावडे त्या ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे मज न साहे मीनती । खेद होय चित्तीं भंग मना ॥४॥
Literal translation
Hear this word of mine, sant-folk — I petition with folded hands to you. Those who apply their own bhāvanā (imagination, frame) and tarka (reasoning) speak — who can stop them? Our heart's bhāva — only he knows — Rakumāī's husband, Pāṇḍuranga. My chitta is entangled at his feet — therefore nothing pleases me besides him. Tukā says: I cannot bear the minatī (entreaty, persuading-argument); sorrow comes to chitta, breaking the mind.
What it means
A 4-verse polite-but-firm address to well-meaning persuaders. Aikā hē vachana mājhē santajana — vinavitōm jōḍuni kara tumhām — hear this word of mine, sant-folk — I petition with folded hands to you. The audience is santajana — even the sants — and the gesture is jōḍuni kara (folded-hands), the most respectful petition-gesture.
The dhrūpada acknowledges that others-with-other-frames will keep speaking: tarka karūnīyā āpulyā bhāvanā — bōlatiyā janā kōṇa vārī — those who apply their own bhāvanā (frame, imagination) and speak — who can stop them? The bhakta cannot prevent others from approaching with tarka (logic) and bhāvanā (their own emotional-frame). But there is something they cannot enter.
The second verse names what they cannot enter: āmuchyā jīvīñchā tō chi jāṇē bhāvō — Rakumāīñcā nāhō Pāṇḍuranga — the bhāva of our jīva — only he knows — Rakumāī's husband, Pāṇḍuranga. The bhakta's bhāva is known only to Pāṇḍuranga, not to the well-meaning sants. Rakumāīcā nāhō (Rakumāī's husband) is the affectionate Vārkarī name.
The third verse: chitta mājhē tyāche gumtalēmsē pāyīm — mhaṇōnī kāmhī nāvaḍē tyā — my chitta is entangled (gumtalēm) at his feet — therefore nothing else pleases. Gumtaṇē (entangled) — the same affectionate verb as 2624's gōvā (entanglement). The bhakta's chitta is entangled there; this is not a state one can argue someone out of.
The close: na sāhē minatī — khēda hōya chittīm bhanga manā — I cannot bear the minatī (entreaty, argued-persuasion); sorrow comes to chitta, breaking the mind. Minatī — repeated entreating-argument. The bhakta admits: more persuasion will break me. The petition is to stop persuading, not to refute the persuasion.
For someone today
A useful structure for politely declining well-meaning persuaders when your chitta has already chosen. Hear this with folded hands; I can't stop those who keep applying their own frames; but my real bhāva is known only to the one my chitta is entangled with; please don't keep entreating me, because it breaks me. The bhakta does not refute the persuaders' arguments; he asks them to stop bringing the minatī. This is wise — once chitta is entangled, no argument resolves it; only the entreater can choose to stop entreating.
Where this applies
- Politely asking well-meaning persuaders to stop bringing arguments
- The claim that one's jīva-bhāva is known only to the beloved — not to outsiders
- Acknowledging that further minatī genuinely breaks the mind
- The image of chitta-entangled-at-feet as a state argument cannot dissolve