Abhanga 3059
Tukārām's canonical non-dual 3-image text. The tree is in the seed's belly; the seed is in the tree's end-fruit. So it has become with us and you — one merged in one. The wave on the water — the wave is the water's body. Tukā says: the reflection has attained dissolution at the (very) place. The verse permits the canonical non-dual bhakti-mergence with 3 Vedāntic-style images.
The verse
तरुवर बीजा पोटीं । बीज तरुवरा सेवटीं ॥१॥
तैसें तुम्हां आम्हां जालें । एकीं एक सामावलें ॥ध्रु.॥
उदकावरील तरंग । तरंग उदकाचें अंग ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बिंबच्छाया । ठायीं पावली विलया ॥३॥
Literal translation
Taruvara bījā pōṭīm — the tree is in the bīja's belly; bīja taruvarā sevaṭīm — the bīja is in the tree's end. Taise tumhām āmhām jāle — so it has become with you and us; ekīm eka sāmāvale — one merged in one. Udakāvarīla taranga — the wave on the water; taranga udakāñce anga — the wave is the water's body. Tukā mhaṇe bimba-chhāyā — Tukā says: the bimba-chhāyā; ṭhāyīm pāvalī vilayā — has attained vilaya at the (very) place.
What it means
★ A canonical 3-image non-dual text by Tukārām.
The 3 images all-illustrate one-merged-in-one: 1. Tree-in-seed-and-seed-in-tree-end — cyclical-mutual-containment 2. Wave-on-water and-wave-is-water's-body — non-dual-emergence 3. Bimba-chhāyā (reflection) attained-vilaya at-the-(very)-place — reflection-dissolving-back-into-the-original
★ This is one of the cleanest Vedānta-style imagery-clusters in-the-Tukārām-corpus, used to-describe bhakta-Lord-non-duality. The 3-fold structure recalls the Upaniṣadic illustrations (cf. wave-and-water = Brhadāraṇyaka-type). But Tukārām applies-these to bhakta-and-Lord, not jīvātma-and-paramātma in abstract.
The closing-image — bimba-chhāyā attained-vilaya at-the-place — is masterful: the reflection (chhāyā) does-not-go-elsewhere to-merge with-its-source; it-dissolves-right-where-it-is. Bhakti-merging is in-place-non-dual.
Compare-Tukārām's-2917 (non-dual-identification — sahaja-vinōda, you-speak-with-my-mouth), 2474 (lavana-water-samarasa), 2937 (deha-atīta — Deva-speaks-through-me).
For someone today
Tukārām's canonical non-dual 3-image text. The tree is in the seed's belly; the seed is in the tree's end-fruit. So it has become with us and you — one merged in one. The wave on the water — the wave is the water's body. Tukā says: the reflection has attained dissolution at the (very) place. The verse permits the canonical non-dual bhakti-mergence with 3 Vedāntic-style images.
Where this applies
- ★ Canonical non-dual 3-fold-image text
- Tree-seed / wave-water / bimba-chhāyā-vilaya triad
- Companion to 2917, 2474, 2937