संत साहित्य
Work in progress. Translations and commentary are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies or hallucinations — please use your own judgement and check against the original sources.
संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3084 of 4582

Abhanga 3084

Agnikuṇḍāmadhye ghātalā Prahlāda — Prahlāda was thrown in agni-kuṇḍa; tarī tō Govinda visarenā — but he doesn't forget Govinda.

The verse

अग्निकुंडामध्यें घातला प्रल्हाद । तरी तो गोविंद विसरेना ॥१॥ पितियासी म्हणे व्यापक श्रीहरि । नांदतो मुरारी सर्वां ठायीं ॥ध्रु.॥ अग्निरूपें माझा सखा नारायण । प्रल्हाद गर्जून हाक मारी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे अग्नि जाहाला शीतळ । प्रताप सबळ विठो तुझा ॥३॥

Literal translation

Agnikuṇḍāmadhye ghātalā PrahlādaPrahlāda was thrown in agni-kuṇḍa; tarī tō Govinda visarenābut he doesn't forget Govinda. Pitayāsī mhaṇe vyāpaka Śrīharito (his) father, he says: Śrīhari (is) vyāpaka; nāmdatō Murārī sarvām ṭhāyīMurārī dwells in every place. Agnirūpe mājhā sakhā Nārāyaṇain agni-rūpa, my sakhā Nārāyaṇa; Prahlāda garjūna hāka mārīPrahlāda, roaring-out, made (this) shout. Tukā mhaṇe agni jāhālā śītaḷaTukā says: agni became śītaḷa; pratāpa sabaḷa Viṭho tujhāyour pratāpa is strong, Viṭho.

What it means

★ The 4th-of-6 Prahlāda-rakṣaṇa text — the fire-test stage.

The narrative: Prahlāda thrown-in-fire-pit; doesn't-forget-Govinda; tells-father: Śrīhari is-vyāpaka (pervading); Murārī-dwells-everywhere; in-the-agni-rūpa-itself is-my-sakhā-Nārāyaṇa; Prahlāda-roars-out; agni-became-cool.

★ The doctrine is advaita-bhakti: the-fire-itself is-Nārāyaṇa; the-bhakta-recognizes-Nārāyaṇa-in-the-fire-rūpa; therefore-the-fire-cannot-harm — it becomes-cool. This is the vyāpaka-Hari recognition.

For someone today

Tukārām's Prahlāda-fire-test. Prahlāda was thrown into the agni-kuṇḍa; but he does not forget Govinda. To his father, he says: Śrīhari is vyāpaka — Murārī dwells in every place. In the form of agni itself — my sakhā Nārāyaṇa! Prahlāda, roaring-out, made this shout. The agni became śītaḷa — your pratāpa is strong, Viṭho. The verse permits the canonical vyāpaka-Hari advaita-bhakti recognition: the-attacker-itself is-the-Lord; fire-cools-by-recognition.

Where this applies