संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2924 of 4582

Abhanga 2924

The source of the whole world is Vitthal himself, who is beyond scripture and argument, yet is both ungraspable by the mind and present everywhere at once.

When you try to reason your way to God through argument alone.
When you watch others debate endlessly about the nature of ultimate reality.
When you want to feel that the divine is both beyond you and close to you at the same time.

The verse

जयापासोनि सकळ । महीमंडळ जालें ॥१॥ तो एक पंढरीचा राणा । नये श्रुती अनुमाना ॥ध्रु.॥ विवादती जयासाठीं । जगजेटी तो विठ्ठल ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे तो आकळ । आहे सकळव्यापक ॥३॥

Literal translation

Jayāpāsōnī sakaḷa(from him) from whom all; mahī-maṇḍala jālethemahī-maṇḍala(earth-circle) came into being. Tō eka Pandharīñcā rāṇāthat one is therāṇā(king) of Paṇḍharī; nye śrutī anumānā(he) does not come intośruti(Vedas) oranumāna(inference). Vivādatī jayāsāṭī(those) for whom they dispute (in philosophy); Jagajeṭhī tō ViṭhṭhalathatJagajeṭhī(world-conqueror) is Viṭṭhal. Tukā says: tō ākaḷahe isākaḷa(ungraspable); āhe sakaḷa-vyāpaka(yet) is all-pervading (sakaḷa-vyāpaka).

What it means

A short canonical Viṭṭhal-origin verse. Jayāpāsōnī sakaḷa — mahī-maṇḍala jālefrom whom all — the earth-circle came into being. The cosmological-claim: the entire mahī-maṇḍala (world-circle) comes from him.

Tō eka Pandharīñcā rāṇā — nye śrutī anumānāthat one is Paṇḍharī's king — doesn't come into Vedas or inference. The radical claim: the supreme-cosmological-source is Paṇḍharī's-king (Viṭṭhal); he is beyond Vedas and inference.

Vivādatī jayāsāṭī — Jagajeṭhī tō Viṭhṭhalafor whom they dispute (in philosophy) — that Jagajeṭhī is Viṭṭhal. The Vārkarī-claim: the cosmic-disputed-Lord is precisely Viṭṭhal. Pairs with 2925 (formless-Viṭṭhal-everywhere).

The close: Tukā mhaṇe tō ākaḷa — āhe sakaḷa-vyāpakahe is ungraspable — yet all-pervading. The paradox: ungraspable AND all-pervading. (Compare 2925 no-rūpa-no-nāma-yet-everywhere.)

For someone today

Everything in this whole world came into being from him, Tukaram says. He is the king of Pandhari, and he cannot be reached through the Vedas or through pure logic and inference. The one philosophers argue endlessly about, the conqueror of the world they debate — that very one is Vitthal. Tukaram says he can never be fully grasped by the mind, and yet he is present everywhere, all at once.

मराठी: या संपूर्ण जगाची उत्पत्ती त्याच्यापासूनच झाली आहे, तुकाराम म्हणतात. तो पंढरीचा राणा आहे, आणि तो वेद किंवा नुसत्या तर्काने कळत नाही. ज्याच्याबद्दल तत्त्वज्ञ सतत वादविवाद करतात, तो जगजेठी — तोच विठ्ठल आहे. तुकाराम म्हणतात की तो मनाला कधीच पूर्णपणे आकळत नाही, आणि तरीही तो सर्वत्र, एकाच वेळी व्यापून आहे.

Where this applies

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