Abhanga 3349
Even without learning or eloquence, a heartfelt, simple devotion can hold and express what scholarship and scripture could not fully capture.
The verse
मतिविण काय वर्णू तुझें ध्यान । जेथें पडिलें मौन्य वेदश्रुती ॥१॥
करूनि गोजिरा आपुलिये मती । धरियेलें चित्तीं चरणकमळ ॥ध्रु.॥
सुखाचें ओतिलें पाहों ते श्रीमुख । तेणें हरे भूक तान माझी ॥२॥
रसना गोडावली ओव्या गातां गीत । पावलेंसे चित्त समाधान ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे माझी दृष्टि चरणांवरी । पाउलें गोजिरीं कुंकुमाचीं ॥४॥
Literal translation
Mativiṇa kāya varṇū tujhe dhyāna — without matī, how to varṇa your dhyāna; jethe paḍile maunya veda-śrutī — where Veda-Śruti fell maunya. Karūnī gōjirā āpuliye matī — making (it) gōjirā by my matī; dhariyele chittīm charaṇa-kamaḷa — held charaṇa-kamaḷa in chitti. Sukhāñce ōtile pāhōm te Śrīmukha — the Śrī-mukha poured-with-sukha I see; teṇe hare bhūka tāna mājhī — by-it my hunger-thirst cease. Rasanā gōḍāvalī ōvyā gātām gīta — rasanā tasted-sweet singing ōvyās; pāvalemse chitta samādhāna — chitta got samādhāna. Tukā mhaṇe mājhī drṣṭi charaṇāmvarī — Tukā says: my drṣṭi on charaṇa; pāule gōjirīm kunkumāñcīm — gōjirī feet with kunkuma.
What it means
A 4-verse bhakti-supremacy text. Where Vedas-and-Śrutis fell-silent, the bhakta-with-his-own-mati makes-the-Lord gōjirā (lovely) and holds-the-charaṇa-kamala. The bhakti-imagination succeeds where Vedic-analysis fell-silent.
For someone today
Tukaram admits he has no learning or intellectual skill to properly describe his contemplation of the divine, especially since even the Vedas and scriptures fell silent when trying to capture it. But he says that with his own simple heart he has still managed to hold onto the beauty of the Lord's feet in his mind. Seeing that joyful, radiant face satisfies every hunger and thirst in him, and singing simple devotional verses has made his tongue taste sweetness and brought real peace to his mind. His gaze rests on nothing more than those lovely feet marked with vermilion. The lesson is that heartfelt devotion can reach what pure intellect and scholarship cannot.
मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की देवाच्या ध्यानाचे नीट वर्णन करण्याइतकी विद्वत्ता किंवा बुद्धी माझ्याकडे नाही, कारण खुद्द वेद-श्रुतीसुद्धा ते वर्णन करताना मुके झाले. पण ते सांगतात की आपल्या साध्या मनाने त्यांनी तरीही देवाच्या चरणकमळाचे सौंदर्य मनात धरून ठेवले आहे. ते आनंदाने ओथंबलेले तेजस्वी मुख पाहिल्याने आपली भूक-तहान शमते, आणि साध्या ओव्या गाताना जिभेला गोडवा येतो आणि मनाला खरी शांती मिळते, असे ते सांगतात. त्यांची दृष्टी फक्त कुंकू लावलेल्या त्या सुंदर पावलांवर स्थिरावलेली असते. मनापासूनची भक्ती तिथे पोहोचू शकते जिथे नुसती बुद्धी किंवा विद्वत्ता पोहोचू शकत नाही, हाच यातील बोध आहे.
Where this applies
- When someone feels unqualified to speak about something sacred because they lack formal learning
- When a person finds that a simple devotional practice brings them more peace than intellectual study ever did
- When you notice that heartfelt affection succeeds at expressing something that careful analysis could not capture
- When a person finds deep contentment just by focusing on one simple, beloved image or memory