Abhanga 3579
Some separations, once they happen, cannot be undone, and what looks like loss or breaking is sometimes the very price of something valuable coming to light.
The verse
पडिलों बाहेरि आपल्या कर्तव्यें । संसाराचा जीवें वीट आला ॥१॥
एकामध्यें एक नाहीं मिळे येत । ताक नवनीत निडळिया ॥ध्रु.॥
दोनी जालीं नांवें एकाच्या मथनें । भुस सार गुणें वेगळालीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कोठें वसे मुक्ताफळ । सिंपल्याचें स्थळ खंडलिया ॥३॥
Literal translation
Paḍilōm bāheri āpalyā kartavye — I've fallen outside by my own kartavya; samsārāchā jīve vīṭa ālā — vīṭa came to the jīva from samsāra. Ekāmadhye eka nāhīm miḷe yeta — one doesn't come-back-into one; tāka navanīta niḍaḷiyā — tāka and navanīta — once churned. Dōnī jālīm nāmve ekāchyā mathane — two names by the churning of one; bhusa sāra guṇe vegaḷālīm — bhusa and sāra separated by guṇa. Tukā mhaṇe kōṭhe vase muktāphaḷa — Tukā says: where resides the pearl; simpalyāche sthaḷa khamḍaliyā — the oyster's place broken.
What it means
A 3-verse irreversible-separation text. I've-fallen-out by-my-own-acts; samsāra-tastes-bitter to-jīva; once-buttermilk-and-butter-are-separated, you-can't-remix; bhusa-and-sāra split-by-guṇa; once-the-oyster-breaks, where-does-the-pearl-reside? The dharmic-image: separations-are-irreversible — samsāra-and-bhakti-jīva have-parted.
For someone today
Once a churning happens — buttermilk-from-butter, chaff-from-grain, pearl-from-oyster — there's no going back. The bhakta has tasted the bitterness of saṃsāra; the way out is also a kind of breaking.
मराठी: एकदा घुसळण झाली — ताकातून लोणी वेगळे झाले, कोंड्यातून सार वेगळे झाले, शिंपल्यातून मोती वेगळा झाला — की मागे फिरणे शक्य नसते. भक्ताला संसाराचा वीट आधीच चाखलेला असतो; त्यातून बाहेर पडणे हाही एक प्रकारचा तुटण्याचाच अनुभव असतो.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's separation-by-churning image-cluster
- Companion to 2474 (lavana-water samarasa — opposite direction)