Abhanga 3194
Some truths cannot be heard by those without bhāva — not because the truth is hidden, but because the receiver is closed. When you speak from lived grace, expect that dull-hearts will not hear. Speak step by step anyway.
The verse
वचनाचा अनुभव हातीं । बोलविती देव मज ॥१॥
परि हें न कळे अभाविकां । जडलोकां जिवांसी ॥ध्रु.॥
अश्रुत हे प्रसादिक । कृपा भीक स्वामीची ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे वरावरी । जातों तरी सांगत ॥३॥
Literal translation
Vachanāchā anubhava hātīm — bōlavitī Deva maja — the anubhava of the vachana is in (my) hand — Deva makes me speak. Pari hēm na kaḷē abhāvikām — jaḍalōkām jivāmsī — but this is not known to abhāvikas — to jaḍa-loka jīvas. Aśruta hē prasādika — krpā bhīka svāmīchī — these are aśruta-prasādika — krpā as the Svāmī's alms. Tukā mhaṇe varāvarī — jātōm tarī sāngata — Tukā says: step-by-step — I am going (and) telling.
What it means
A 4-verse authorship-disclaimer. Tukārām claims: the anubhava of what I say is in my own hand — i.e., the words are vouched by lived experience. But Deva speaks through me. The aśruta-prasādika compound is striking: aśruta = not heard (in śruti/Veda); yet prasādika = grace-bestowed. So these utterances do not derive from textual lineage — they come as the Svāmī's bhīkṣā of kṛpā. The abhāvika and jaḍa-loka-jīva cannot hear this — the absence of bhāva is itself the deafness.
For someone today
Some truths cannot be heard by those without bhāva — not because the truth is hidden, but because the receiver is closed. When you speak from lived grace, expect that dull-hearts will not hear. Speak step by step anyway.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's Deva-speaks-through-me; aśruta-prasādika; abhāvika-deaf canonical
- Companion to 2940 (sāḷunkī Lord-speaks-through-me) and 2949 (anubhava-vs-shabdika)