संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3378 of 4582

Abhanga 3378

Mutual constitution: even the highest reality reveals itself by contrast with what it is not. The relationship is not one-way.

Tukārām's we-bhaktas-make-the-Lord-the-Lord; without-fallen, no-rescuer radical canonical inversion

The verse

जेणें तुज जालें रूप आणि नांव । पतित हें दैव तुझें आम्ही ॥१॥ नाहीं तरी तुज कोण हें पुसतें । निराकारी तेथें एकाएकी ॥ध्रु.॥ अंधारे दीपा आणियेली शोभा । माणिकासी प्रभा कोंदणासी ॥२॥ धन्वंतरी रोगें आणिला उजेडा । सुखा काय चाडा जाणावें तें ॥३॥ अमृतासी मोल विषाचिया गुणें । पितळें तरी सोनें उंच निंच ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे आम्ही असोनिया जना । तुज देव पणा आणियेलें ॥५॥

Literal translation

Jeṇē tuja jāle rūpa āṇi nāva — patita he daiva tujhe āmhī — by what you got rūpa and Name — we, the patita, are your luck. Nāhī tarī tuja koṇa he pusate — nirākārī tethe ekā-ekī — otherwise who would ask after you — alone in nirākāra? Amdhāre dīpā āṇiyelī śobhā — māṇikāsī prabhā komdaṇāsī — darkness brought the lamp its beauty; the setting (gives) the gem its radiance. Dhanvantarī rōge āṇilā ujeḍā — sukhā kāya chāḍā jāṇāve te — Dhanvantarī came to light by disease — what use of sukha if (duḥkha) is not known? Amrtāsī mola viṣāchiyā guṇe — pitaḷe tarī sōne umcha nimcha — amrta's value is by viṣa's quality; brass (reveals) gold as high-or-low. Tukā mhaṇe āmhī asoniyā janā — tuja deva-paṇā āṇiyele — Tukā says: by our being-here among people — we have brought your Deva-ness out.

What it means

A 5-verse radical inversion of the bhakta-Deva polarity. The patita (fallen) are not just rescued — they are the daiva (luck) by which Deva-paṇā (Deva-ness) becomes manifest. Without patients, no Dhanvantarī. Without poison, no nectar-value. Without brass, no measure of gold. The bhakta-as-foil-revealing-Lord is the central image.

For someone today