Abhanga 2726
Āpulē āpaṇa jāṇāve sva-hita — one should know one's own welfare oneself; jēṇē rāhē chitta samādhāna — by which the chitta keeps samādhāna (settled-comfort).
The verse
आपुलें आपण जाणावें स्वहित । जेणें राहे चत्ति समाधान ॥१॥
बहुरंगें माया असे विखरली । कुंटित चि चाली होतां बरी ॥ध्रु.॥
पूजा ते अबोला चित्तीच्या प्रकारीं । भाव विश्वंभरीं समर्पावा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे गेला फिटोनियां भेव । मग होतो देव मनाचा चि ॥३॥
Literal translation
Āpulē āpaṇa jāṇāve sva-hita — one should know one's own welfare oneself; jēṇē rāhē chitta samādhāna — by which the chitta keeps samādhāna (settled-comfort). Bahu-rangē māyā asē vikharalī — māyā is spread out in many-colors; kuṇṭita chi chālī hōtām barī — the limping gait (kuṇṭita = halt-and-slow) is better when it happens. Pūjā tē abōlā chittīñciye prakārī — pūjā is abōlā (silence) in the chitta's manner; bhāva Viśvambharī samarpāvā — let bhāva be offered to Viśvambhara. Tukā says: fear is fiṭōniyām (fitted-off, removed); then Deva of-the-mind itself comes (hōtō).
What it means
A short elegant inner-pūjā definition verse. Āpulē āpaṇa jāṇāve sva-hita — jēṇē rāhē chitta samādhāna — one should know one's own welfare oneself — by which the chitta keeps samādhāna. The self-instruction: sva-hita (self-welfare) is jāṇāve (to-be-known) by āpaṇa (oneself); the test is chitta-samādhāna — the chitta-remains-in-settled-comfort.
The dhrūpada offers a striking practical-instruction: bahu-rangē māyā asē vikharalī — kuṇṭita chi chālī hōtām barī — māyā is spread out in many colors; the limping gait (slow, halting) is better when it happens. When māyā is in bahu-ranga (many-colors, multiple-attractive-forms) — kuṇṭita-chālī (limping-slow-walking) is barī (better) than fast-walking. Slow down when the world is colorful. This is wise practical-discipline.
The second verse is the canonical inner-pūjā definition: pūjā tē abōlā chittīñciye prakārī — bhāva Viśvambharī samarpāvā — pūjā is abōlā (silence) in the chitta's manner; let bhāva be offered to Viśvambhara. Two components: (1) abōlā (silence) is the prakāra (manner) of the chitta during pūjā; (2) bhāva is offered to Viśvambhara (the all-sustaining). The pūjā is interior — silence + bhāva — and the recipient is Viśvambhara.
The close: gelā fiṭōniyām bhēva — mag hōtō Deva manāñcā chi — fear is fitted-off (removed); then Deva of-the-mind itself comes about. The mechanism: when bhaya (fear) is fiṭa (lifted, removed), the Deva of the mind — Deva-internal-to-the-mind — itself comes about (hōtō). The Deva is not imported from outside; the Deva is manāñcā chi — of the mind itself.
For someone today
A useful canonical inner-pūjā definition. Know your own welfare yourself — the chitta-samādhāna is the test; when māyā shows many-colors, slow your gait; pūjā is silence in the chitta with bhāva offered to Viśvambhara; when fear is removed, Deva-of-the-mind comes about. The four-part discipline is clear. The kuṇṭita-chālī (limping-gait) instruction is especially useful in a fast-distraction world: when the world is colorful, slow down — don't accelerate. The closing claim — Deva is of the mind itself, comes when fear is removed — is the bhakti-claim that the internal-Deva is not separate-from-the-self once fear has lifted.
Where this applies
- The canonical inner-pūjā as silence-with-bhāva definition
- The limping-gait-when-māyā-is-many-colored practical-discipline
- Recognizing Deva of-the-mind itself comes when fear is removed
- The self-test of chitta-samādhāna as evidence of sva-hita-known