Abhanga 2724
A useful description of how bhakti satisfaction works. Nectar moistens the tongue but never brings it to a final stop of satiety; dhaṇī (complete satisfaction) comes without being noticed; pūrṇatā is in Nārāyaṇa, not in the experience; whatever you love is for him; it dissolves in brahma-rasa; we partake in many ways. The paradox of bhakti's satiety is named here: filling without a final stop — the tongue is moistened, the dhaṇī arrives, but the appetite for the next taste does not end. This is structurally different from ordinary food satiety; the bhakti experience does not turn off the channel of longing even while satisfying it.
The verse
सुधारसें ओलावली । रसना धाली न धाय ॥१॥
कळों नये जाली धणी । नारायणीं पूर्णता ॥ध्रु.॥
आवडे तें तें च यासी । ब्रम्हरसीं निरसें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बहुतां परी । करूनि करीं सेवन ॥३॥
Literal translation
Moistened (ōlāvalī) with sudhā-rasa (nectar-juice); the rasanā (tongue), dhālī (filled) does not dhāya (get full / become satiated). Without being kaḷō (known), dhaṇī (full-quenching) has come; Nārāyaṇī pūrṇatā (in Nārāyaṇa is pūrṇatā — completeness). Whatever is āvaḍē (loved), that itself is for him; in brahma-rasa it nirasē (dissolves). Tukā says: in many ways, having done — I do the sevana (taking, partaking, serving).
What it means
A short nectar-satiety verse. Sudhārasē ōlāvalī — rasanā dhālī na dhāya — moistened with nectar-juice — the tongue, filled, doesn't become satiated. The paradox: nectar produces filling without full-stop satiety. Each taste-of-nectar fills the tongue, but the tongue does not arrive at the enough-stop-now satiety-point that ordinary food produces. The bhakti-flavor is endlessly-receivable.
The dhrūpada: kaḷō nayē jālī dhaṇī — Nārāyaṇī pūrṇatā — without being known,dhaṇī(full-quenching) has come; in Nārāyaṇa ispūrṇatā(completeness). Dhaṇī (the full-quenching, the satisfaction-of-the-thirst) has arrived without being noticed-arriving. Pūrṇatā (completeness) is in Nārāyaṇa — the place of completeness is the addressee, not the experience.
The second verse names the redirection: āvaḍē tē tē chi yāsī — brahma-rasīm nirasē — whatever is loved, that itself is for him; in brahma-rasa, it dissolves. The bhakti-claim: any-love-that-arises is for him — the love-flow is naturally-directed to Nārāyaṇa. And in brahma-rasa, it dissolves — the love-flow dissolves into the brahma-rasa (the brahma-essence-flavor).
The close: bahutām parī — karūnī karīm sevana — in many ways, having done, I do the sevana (partaking, serving). Sevana (taking-up, partaking, serving) — the bhakta serves-and-partakes in many ways. The plurality of approaches is acknowledged.
For someone today
A useful description of how bhakti satisfaction works. Nectar moistens the tongue but never brings it to a final stop of satiety; dhaṇī (complete satisfaction) comes without being noticed; pūrṇatā is in Nārāyaṇa, not in the experience; whatever you love is for him; it dissolves in brahma-rasa; we partake in many ways. The paradox of bhakti's satiety is named here: filling without a final stop — the tongue is moistened, the dhaṇī arrives, but the appetite for the next taste does not end. This is structurally different from ordinary food satiety; the bhakti experience does not turn off the channel of longing even while satisfying it.
मराठी: भक्तीचं समाधान कसं काम करतं याचं हे एक उपयुक्त वर्णन आहे. सुधारस जिभेला ओलावतो, पण तिला कधीच अंतिम तृप्ती मिळत नाही; धणी (पूर्ण समाधान) न कळताच येऊन जाते; पूर्णता अनुभवात नसून नारायणातच आहे; जे काही आवडतं ते सगळं त्याच्यासाठीच असतं; ते ब्रह्मरसात विरघळून जातं; आपण अनेक प्रकारे सेवा-साधना करतो. इथे भक्तीच्या तृप्तीचा विरोधाभास मांडला आहे: तृप्त होऊनही थांबा न येणं — जीभ ओलावते, धणी येते, पण पुढच्या चवीची भूक संपत नाही. सामान्य अन्नाच्या तृप्तीपेक्षा हे रचनात्मकदृष्ट्या वेगळं आहे; भक्तीचा अनुभव समाधान देत असतानाही ओढीचा प्रवाह कधीच बंद करत नाही.
Where this applies
- The satiety-without-filling paradox of bhakti-experience
- Recognizing that pūrṇatā is in Nārāyaṇa, not in the experience
- Whatever is loved, that is for him — bhakti-redirection of all loves
- Partaking in many-ways — bahutām parī karūnī karīm sevana