Abhanga 2746
Chukaliyā tāḷā — when the tāḷā (key) is lost/missed; vātī ghālunī baisē ḍōḷām — light the vātī (wick) and sit at the ḍōḷām (eye, gaze).
The verse
चुकलिया ताळा । वाती घालुनि बैसे डोळां ॥१॥
तैसें जागें करीं चित्ता । कांहीं आपुलिया हिता ॥ध्रु.॥
निक्षेपिलें धन । तेथें गुंतलेसे मन ॥२॥
नाशिवंतासाटीं । तुका म्हणे करिसी आटी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Chukaliyā tāḷā — when the tāḷā (key) is lost/missed; vātī ghālunī baisē ḍōḷām — light the vātī (wick) and sit at the ḍōḷām (eye, gaze). Taisē jāgē karī chitta — thus rouse the chitta; kāmhī āpuliyā hita — for one's own hita (welfare). Nikṣēpilē dhana — the nikṣēpa (deposit) of wealth; tēthē gumtalēsē mana — there the mind is gumtalēsē (entangled). Tukā says: nāśivantāsāṭī — for the nāśivanta (perishable); karisī āṭī — you do the āṭī (struggle, intense effort).
What it means
A short attention-redirection verse. Chukaliyā tāḷā — vātī ghālunī baisē ḍōḷām — when the key is lost — light the wick and sit at the eye (where it was last). The household-image: when you lose a key, you light a lamp and sit-watching-by-the-eye (the place it was last seen). The principle: direct attention to where the thing is.
The dhrūpada applies it: taisē jāgē karī chitta — kāmhī āpuliyā hita — thus rouse the chitta — for one's own welfare. Apply the attention-discipline to your own chitta. Light-the-wick-of-attention and sit-where your welfare-key is.
The second verse names where the mind actually-sits: nikṣēpilē dhana — tēthē gumtalēsē mana — where wealth has been deposited — there the mind is entangled. The mind goes naturally to where wealth has been laid-up. This is the diagnostic-test: where my mind actually-goes when not-directed — that is where my deposits are. The location-of-entanglement reveals the location-of-my-investment.
The close: nāśivantāsāṭī — karisī āṭī — for the perishable, you do the struggle. The lament: all this āṭī (intense-effort) is for the perishable. The energy that goes-into-protecting-perishable-deposits could have gone-into-the-imperishable.
For someone today
A useful attention-redirection prompt. When you lose a key, you light a lamp and sit-by-the-eye to find it; do the same for your own welfare — light the wick of attention and sit-where the welfare-key is. Notice: your mind is entangled-where-your-wealth-is-deposited. All your intense-effort is for the perishable. Two-fold redirection: (1) trace your mind's-actual-residence; (2) check what kind of deposits live there. The verse permits this honest-audit without prescribing where the deposits should be — leave that to the āpuliyā hita (one's own welfare) recognition.
Where this applies
- The rouse-the-chitta-for-its-own-welfare daily-discipline
- Recognizing that mind-is-entangled-where-wealth-deposited
- The honest audit: what kind of deposits do I have, and is my mind sitting-where-they-are?
- Nāśivantāsāṭī āṭī — recognizing struggle-for-the-perishable as the energy-leak