संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3544 of 4582

Abhanga 3544

Joy in devotion builds like milk turning to curd and then butter, deepening through the body itself until it fills completely and overflows on its own.

When you feel devotion or love growing stronger the longer you stay with it, rather than fading

When deep feeling shows itself in your body, through trembling, swaying, or a sudden calm

When something you've been holding inside finally becomes too full to contain and spills out

The verse

सुख सुखा विरजण जालें । तें मथलें नवनीत ॥१॥ हाले डोले हरुषे काया । निवती बाह्या नयन ॥ध्रु.॥ प्रबल तो नारायण । गुणें गुण वाढला ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे भरली सीग । वरी मग वोसंडे ॥३॥

Literal translation

Sukha sukhā virajaṇa jāle — sukha on sukha became virajaṇa; te mathale navanīta — that was churned into navanīta. Hāle ḍōle haruṣe kāyā — the body sways-and-shakes with joy; nivatī bāhyā nayan — the arms and eyes cool. Prabaḷa tō Nārāyaṇa — powerful is Nārāyaṇa; guṇe guṇa vāḍhalā — guṇa grew by guṇa. Tukā mhaṇe bharalī sīga — Tukā says: the ridge filled; varī maga vōsamḍe — over (it), then it overflows.

What it means

A short 3-verse bhakti-ecstasy text by Tukārām. The image: sukha-on-sukha became-virajaṇa (the starter-culture-curd); that-was-churned-into-butter. The bodily-ecstasy: body-sways-and-shakes with-joy; arms-and-eyes cool-down. The cosmic-attribution: prabaḷa-Nārāyaṇa; guṇa-grew-by-guṇa. Closing image: the brim-filled, overflowed.

The churning-sukha-into-navanīta image is striking: bhakti-sukha is-not-just-felt-passively; it's-churned-actively into-the-butter-essence. The kāyā-bāhyā-nayan-cooling is the canonical-marker of-bhakti-rasa-arrival.

For someone today

Tukārām's bhakti-ecstasy. Sukha on sukha became starter-curd — that was churned into butter. The body sways-and-shakes with joy; the arms and eyes become cool. Powerful is Nārāyaṇa — guṇa grew by guṇa. The brim (has been) filled — and over-and-above, it then overflows. The verse offers the canonical image of devotional joy being churned into butter, deepening until it overflows.

मराठी: तुकाराम इथे भक्तीच्या आनंदाला दह्यापासून लोणी होण्याची उपमा देतात — सुखावर सुख साचत जाते आणि त्याचे विरजण होते, तेच घुसळून नवनीत तयार होते. शरीर आनंदाने डोलते-हालते, हात व डोळे शांत, शीतल होतात. नारायण किती प्रबळ आहे — गुणावर गुण वाढत जातो. तुकाराम म्हणतात, ही तृप्तीची कड भरून वाहू लागते, अगदी लोणी घुसळल्यासारखी.

Where this applies

When joy in devotion or love keeps deepening the more you practice it, rather than staying the same
When someone notices real spiritual feeling showing up as physical sensation, not just as a thought
When you sense an inner fullness building slowly until it can't help but show outwardly
When steady practice over time produces something richer than the practice itself