Abhanga 2728
The verse offers two diagnostic images for spiritual danger: the fish swallows the hook by bait — āśā has taken the prāṇa and the butcher grabs the goat by attachment. Both name the same structure: the predator uses the prey's own desire against it. The bait and fish image is for desires that lead to the hook; the goat and butcher image is for attachments that make one easy for harm to approach. The wisdom: what one is attracted to is often the very channel through which the harm comes. Test your attractions for the structure of bait and hook.
The verse
आपुल्याचा भोत चाटी । मारी करंटीं पारिख्या ॥१॥
ऐसें जन भुललें देवा । मिथ्या हेवा वाढवी ॥ध्रु.॥
गळ गिळी आविसें मासा । प्राण आशा घेतला ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बोकडमोहो । धरी पहा हो खाटिक ॥३॥
Literal translation
Āpulyāñcā bhōta chāṭī — one's-own (bhōta= malicious-spirit/ghost?) licks-and-cuts; mārī karaṇṭīm pārikhyā — strikes the misfortunate, the alien. Aisē jana bhulalē Devā — mithyā hēvā vāḍhavī — people are thus deluded, Deva — false envy grows. Gaḷa giḷī āvisē māsā — prāṇa āśā ghētalā — the fish swallows the hook byāvisa(bait);āśā(desire) has taken theprāṇa(life). Tukā says: bōkaḍa-mōhē — dharī pahā hō khāṭika — see — the butcher grabs the goat by-attachment.
What it means
A short predator-prey-attachment verse. Āpulyāñcā bhōta chāṭī — mārī karaṇṭīm pārikhyā — one's-ownbhōta(perhapsbhūta, possessive-spirit/ghost) licks-and-cuts; the misfortunate strikes the alien. The obscure opening: one's-own-possessing-spirit cuts at one; the misfortunate-self strikes against the alien-other.
The dhrūpada: aisē jana bhulalē Devā — mithyā hēvā vāḍhavī — people are thus deluded, Deva — false-envy grows. The verb bhulalē (deluded) and the verb vāḍhavī (grows) — the delusion produces mithyā hēvā (false envy/rivalry).
The second verse offers a classic predator-image: gaḷa giḷī āvisē māsā — prāṇa āśā ghētalā — the fish swallows the hook by bait; āśā (desire) has taken the prāṇa. The fish-and-hook image is precise: the āvisa (bait) makes the fish swallow the gaḷa (hook); the āśā (desire) does the same to the prāṇa (life). Bait-driven swallowing kills.
The close gives the second predator-image: bōkaḍa-mōhē — dharī pahā hō khāṭika — the butcher grabs the goat by-attachment. Bōkaḍa (goat) is grabbed by mōha (attachment); the khāṭika (butcher) uses the goat's-own-attachment to bring it close. The goat's own attachment to grass or familiar-place lets the butcher approach.
The two predator-images compress the diagnosis: āśā takes the prāṇa (the desire is the hook); mōha brings the butcher close (the attachment is the leash). Both predators use the prey's-own-quality against it.
For someone today
The verse offers two diagnostic images for spiritual danger: the fish swallows the hook by bait — āśā has taken the prāṇa and the butcher grabs the goat by attachment. Both name the same structure: the predator uses the prey's own desire against it. The bait and fish image is for desires that lead to the hook; the goat and butcher image is for attachments that make one easy for harm to approach. The wisdom: what one is attracted to is often the very channel through which the harm comes. Test your attractions for the structure of bait and hook.
मराठी: हा अभंग आध्यात्मिक धोक्यासाठी दोन निदानात्मक प्रतिमा देतो: मासा गळ आमिषामुळे गिळतो — आशेनेच प्राण घेतला आहे, आणि खाटीक बोकडाला मोहामुळे पकडतो. दोन्ही प्रतिमा एकच रचना दाखवतात: भक्षक हा भक्ष्याच्याच इच्छेचा वापर त्याच्याविरुद्ध करतो. आमिष आणि माशाची प्रतिमा त्या इच्छांसाठी आहे ज्या गळाकडे नेतात; बोकड आणि खाटकाची प्रतिमा त्या आसक्तींसाठी आहे ज्यामुळे माणूस हानीच्या जवळ सहज सापडतो. यातलं शहाणपण असं आहे: ज्याकडे आपलं मन ओढलं जातं, तोच अनेकदा हानी येण्याचा मार्ग बनतो. आपल्या आकर्षणांची आमिष-आणि-गळ अशी रचना आहे का, हे तपासून पाहा.
Where this applies
- Recognizing how āśā (desire) takes the prāṇa through bait
- The predator-prey-attachment imagery for spiritual-danger
- The diagnostic: what attracts me may be the channel of my harm
- Mithyā hēvā (false-envy) growing in deluded-people