Abhanga 3153
A real encounter with the divine can feel like being completely emptied out, but that emptying is actually a return to your most essential, original state.
The verse
नव्हती भेटी तों चि बरें । होतां चोरें नाडिलें ॥१॥
अवाघियांचा केला झाडा । रिता वाडा खोंकर ॥ध्रु.॥
चिंतनांचें मूळ चत्ति । नेलें वृत्ति हरूनि ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे मूळा आलें । होतें केलें तैसें चि ॥३॥
Literal translation
Navhatī bhēṭī tōm chi bare — no bhēṭī — that itself was better; hōtām chōre nāḍilē — once happened, the chōra deceived (me). Avāghiyāñcā kelā jhāḍā — made the jhāḍā of all; ritā vāḍa khōnkara — empty cave-hollow. Chintanāñce mūḷa chitta — the mūla of chintana — chitta; nele vrtti harūnī — took the vrtti. Tukā mhaṇe mūḷā āle — Tukā says: came-to-root; hōte kele taise chi — (he) made (things) as they were.
What it means
A 3-verse striking-image text. The Lord-as-chōra (thief) empties-the-bhakta of-everything (including-vrtti) and-makes-things-as-they-originally-were (= the-essential-state).
For someone today
Tukaram uses a startling image here, comparing God to a thief who, once he actually met him, cleaned him out completely, leaving him with nothing, an empty, hollow house. He even half-jokes that not having met him at all might have been easier. This thief did not just take his possessions, he took the very root of his thinking, his mind and mental habits, stripping everything away. Yet the closing line reframes it, what was taken was returned to how things originally were, back to the essential root. The lesson is that real spiritual encounter can feel like being emptied of everything you thought you owned, and that this loss is actually a return to what was always truest underneath.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे एक धक्कादायक प्रतिमा वापरतात, देवाची तुलना एका चोराशी करतात, जो प्रत्यक्ष भेटल्यावर त्यांना पूर्णपणे लुटून घेतो, एक रिकामे, पोकळ घर मागे ठेवतो. ते अर्धगमतीने म्हणतातही की त्याला मुळीच न भेटणे कदाचित सोपे झाले असते. या चोराने केवळ त्यांच्या वस्तूच नेल्या नाहीत, तर त्यांच्या विचारांचे मूळच, त्यांचे मन आणि मानसिक सवयीच, सगळे हिरावून घेतले. तरीही शेवटची ओळ याला वेगळे वळण देते, जे नेले गेले ते मूळ स्थितीला परत नेले गेले, त्या मूळ, मूलभूत रूपाकडे. खरा आध्यात्मिक अनुभव आपल्या मालकीच्या सगळ्या गोष्टींपासून रिकामे होण्यासारखा वाटू शकतो, आणि हे रिकामेपण खरे तर सर्वात खोलवर असलेल्या खऱ्या स्वरूपाकडे परतणे असते, हा धडा यातून मिळतो.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's Lord-as-chōra (thief)-fleeced-me striking-image