संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3370 of 4582

Abhanga 3370

The visible form of the Lord is not a reduction — it is the seed in which the unspeakable Absolute is held. The Vedas circle it from outside; the bhakta has it close.

When you feel afraid of death or of forces beyond your control

When abstract descriptions of the sacred leave you feeling distant from it

When you stand before a simple image or shrine and wonder if it can truly hold something vast

The verse

आम्ही ज्याचे दास । त्याचा पंढरिये वास ॥१॥ तो हा देवांचा ही देव । काय कळिकाळाचा भेव ॥ध्रु.॥ वेद जया गाती । श्रुति म्हणती नेति नेति ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे निज । रूपडें हें तत्वबीज ॥३॥

Literal translation

Āmhī jyāche dāsa — tyāchā Paṇḍhariye vāsa — whose dāsas we are — his dwelling is in Paṇḍharī. To hā devāmchā hī deva — kāya kaḷikāḷāchā bheva — he is even Deva-of-Devas — what fear of Kali-kāla? Veda jayā gātī — śruti mhaṇatī neti neti — of whom Vedas sing — Śrutis say neti-neti. Tukā mhaṇe nija — rūpaḍē hē tattva-bīja — Tukā says: own — this rūpa is the tattva-bīja (seed-of-truth).

What it means

A 3-verse Paṇḍharī-supremacy claim. The Viṭṭhal-on-the-brick is identified with the Deva-of-Devas whom even Vedas chant and Śrutis can only approach by neti neti (not-this, not-this). Yet — and this is the bhakti-claim — the visible rūpa itself is the tattva-bīja. Saguṇa contains nirguṇa.

For someone today