Abhanga 2929
Kōṇa vechī vāṇī — who vechī (spends) vāṇī (speech); ātām kṣullakā kāraṇī — now on kṣullaka (petty, trivial) matters?
The verse
कोण वेची वाणी । आतां क्षुल्लका कारणीं ॥१॥
आतां हें चि काम करूं । विठ्ठल हृदयांत धरूं ॥ध्रु.॥
नेंदाविया वृत्ति । आतां उठों चि बहुती ॥२॥
उपदेश लोकां । करूनी वेडा होतो तुका ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kōṇa vechī vāṇī — who vechī (spends) vāṇī (speech); ātām kṣullakā kāraṇī — now on kṣullaka (petty, trivial) matters? Ātām he chi kāma karūm — now only this work shall (I) do; Viṭhṭhala hrdayāmta dharūm — hold Viṭṭhal in (my) heart. Nēndāviyā vrtti — pull vrtti (mental-modifications); ātām uṭhōm chi bahutī — now rise-up many-times-over. Upadeśa lōkām karūnī — giving upadeśa to people; veḍā hōtō Tukā — Tukā has become veḍā (mad).
What it means
A short commit-to-bhakti-only verse. Kōṇa vechī vāṇī — ātām kṣullakā kāraṇī — who spends speech now on petty matters? The rhetorical-question: who would waste-speech-on-trivia (now that we have-bhakti)?
Ātām he chi kāma karūm — Viṭhṭhala hrdayāmta dharūm — now only this work — hold Viṭṭhal in heart. The commitment: only-this-work, only-Viṭṭhal-in-heart.
Nēndāviyā vrtti — ātām uṭhōm chi bahutī — pull the vrtti — rise-up many-times. Yoga-vocabulary: vrtti-nirōdha (pulling-back-mental-modifications) is the basic-Patanjali-yoga discipline. Tukārām adapts-it: pull-the-vrtti and rise-many-times to-the-bhakti.
The close: upadeśa lōkām karūnī — veḍā hōtō Tukā — giving upadeśa to people, Tukā has become mad. The veḍā state — both mad-with-bhakti and seen-as-mad-by-the-paṇḍitas (echo of 2859 Pāṇḍita-jana-spit-Tukā-out!).
For someone today
A useful commit-to-bhakti-only verse. Who spends speech now on trivia? Now only this work — hold Viṭṭhal in heart. Pull the vrtti — rise up many-times-over. Giving upadeśa to people, Tukā has become mad. The verse permits the radical-commitment: (1) abandon-trivial-speech; (2) only-Viṭṭhal-in-heart; (3) pull-the-vrtti and rise-many-times to bhakti; (4) accept the veḍā designation by-paṇḍitas as the bhakta-cost. The discipline: no trivial-speech, no trivial-mental-wandering, only-Viṭṭhal.
Where this applies
- The don't-waste-words-on-trivia; hold-Viṭṭhal-in-heart commitment
- Recognizing upadeśa-to-people makes-Tukā-mad (= absorbed)
- Pull-the-vrtti; rise-up-many-times discipline
- Pairs with 2859 (8-verse self-description masterpiece)