संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2712 of 4582

Abhanga 2712

By the śakuna (omen, sign), gain or loss — is known from here itself.

The sober I-have-been-let-go recognition
Recognizing that love is known in the embrace, not in absence
The diagnostic: the omens already tell us what is coming

The verse

शकुनानें लाभ हानि । येथूनि च कळतसे ॥१॥ भयारूढ जालें मन । आतां कोण विश्वास ॥ध्रु.॥ प्रीत कळे आलिंगनीं । संपादनीं अत्यंत ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मोकलिलें । कळों आलें बरवें हें ॥३॥

Literal translation

By the śakuna (omen, sign), gain or loss — is known from here itself. The mind has become bhayārūḍha (mounted with fear); now who has viśvāsa (trust)? Love is known in ālingana (embrace); its sampādana (fulfillment) is atyanta (most-intense). Tukā says: I have been mōkalilē (let-go, released); this has kaḷō ālē baravē — come to be understood well.

What it means

A sober observational verse. Śakunānē lābha hāni — yēthūnī chi kaḷatasēby the omen, gain or loss is known from here (itself). Śakuna (omens, signs) — the bhakta reads the signs and recognizes the trajectory. Yēthūnī chifrom here itself, from this very moment — the future-outcome is already-visible in the present-signs.

The dhrūpada: bhayārūḍha jālē mana — ātām kōṇa viśvāsathe mind has mounted fear; now who has trust? The shift from trust to fear-mounted-state is named honestly. Bhayārūḍhamounted on fear, ridden by fear — once fear has mounted the mind, trust becomes hard to maintain.

The second verse names the experiential-test: prīta kaḷē ālinganī — sampādanī atyantalove is known in embrace; its fulfillment is most-intense. Love is not theoretical; it is known in the embrace. The sampādana (fulfillment) is the intensity-of-the-actual-meeting.

The close: mōkalilē — kaḷō ālē baravē hēI have been let-go; this has come to be understood well. Mōkalilēreleased, let-go, abandoned — the sober recognition. Kaḷō ālē baravē hēthis has come to be understood well — the understanding is clear, the baravē (well) carries a wry-acknowledgment. The bhakta accepts: I have been let go; I see this clearly now.

For someone today

The verse offers the language for a sober I-have-been-let-go recognition. The omens already tell us gain or loss; the mind has mounted fear; love is known in the actual embrace, not in absence; I have been let-go — I see this clearly now. The honest-acknowledgment without melodrama is the verse's mode. Mōkalilē (let-go) does not require accusation; the bhakta simply recognizes. The love-known-in-embrace line is a useful test: when the embrace is absent, the love one was-relying-on cannot be known; one is in fear-mounted state, and who has trust? — the rhetorical-question with no obvious answer.

Where this applies