Abhanga 3142
Real spiritual experience cannot be fully told in words, it simply arises when the mind settles into its true place, and in deep union with the divine, separateness itself dissolves.
The verse
लोह कफ गारा सद्धि हे सामुग्री । अग्नि टणत्कारी दिसों येतो ॥१॥
सांगावें तें काईं सांगावें तें काईं । चत्तिा होय ठायीं अनुभव तो ॥ध्रु.॥
अन्नें सांगों येतो तृप्तीचा अनुभव । करूनि उपाव घेऊं हेवा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे मिळे जीवनीं जीवन । तेथें कोणा कोण नांव ठेवी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Lōha kapha gārā siddhi he sāmugrī — iron, kapha, charcoal — these are siddhi-sāmagrī; agni ṭaṇatkārī disōm yetō — agni becomes visible, sparking. Sāngāve te kāīm — what can be told; chitta hōya ṭhāyīm anubhava tō — anubhava comes when chitta is at its place. Annē sāngōm yetō trptīñcā anubhava — anna reports the anubhava of trpti; karūnī upāva gheūm hevā — doing the upāya, take the gain. Tukā mhaṇe miḷe jīvanīm jīvana — Tukā says: water meets water; tethe kōṇā kōṇa nāva ṭhevī — who puts a name on whom.
What it means
A 3-verse mystical-experience text by Tukārām. The argument: Iron-gum-charcoal-make-fire-visible; so chitta-at-its-(true)-place reveals-anubhava. Anna-reports-the-anubhava-of-trpti by-the-doing. When-water-meets-water, no-one-names-anyone — non-dual-mergence.
The closing-image jīvana meets jīvana (the same word means both life and water) — when-water-(of-jīvātma)-meets-the-water-(of-paramātma), distinction-vanishes.
For someone today
Tukārām's mystical-claim. Iron, gum, charcoal — these are success-materials; the fire becomes visible, sparking. What can be told? — what can be told? — the experience comes when the chitta is at its (true) place. Food reports the experience of satisfaction — by doing the means, let us take the gain. When water meets water — who puts a name on whom? The verse offers this non-dual union in bhakti: life meets life, water meets water, and no one can any longer name or tell them apart.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक गूढ अनुभव सांगतात. लोखंड, डिंक, कोळसा — ही सिद्धीची साधने आहेत, आणि त्यांतून ठिणग्या उडवत अग्नी प्रकट होतो. काय सांगावे, काय सांगावे — चित्त आपल्या खऱ्या ठिकाणी स्थिरावले की अनुभव आपोआप येतो. अन्न खाल्ल्याने तृप्तीचा अनुभव कळतो, तसाच साधन केल्यानेच फळ मिळते. तुकाराम म्हणतात, जेव्हा पाणी पाण्याला मिळते, तेव्हा कोण कोणाला वेगळे नाव ठेवणार? अशा प्रकारे हा अभंग सांगतो की भक्तीत जीव आणि परमात्मा असे एकरूप होतात की मग दोघांत भेदच उरत नाही.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anubhava-not-words; jīvana-meets-jīvana mystical-claim
- Water-meets-water, no-naming canonical-image