Abhanga 3581
Chakrapherīm gaḷīm gaḷā — in chakra-pherī, neck-to-neck; hōtā gōviyelā māḷā — the garland was being intertwined.
The verse
चक्रफेरीं गळीं गळा । होता गोवियेला माळा ॥१॥
फुटोनियां गेला कुंभ । जालों निष्काम स्वयंभ ॥ध्रु.॥
धरित चि नाहीं थारा । वेठी भ्रमण खोंकरा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कौतुक कोडें । आगी काय जाणे मढें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Chakrapherīm gaḷīm gaḷā — in chakra-pherī, neck-to-neck; hōtā gōviyelā māḷā — the garland was being intertwined. Phuṭōnīyām gelā kumbha — the kumbha has burst and gone; jālōm niṣkāma svayambha — I have become niṣkāma-svayambha. Dharita chi nāhīm thārā — holds no thāra; veṭhī bhramaṇa khōmkarā — corvée-wandering-mockery. Tukā mhaṇe kautuka kōḍe — Tukā says: marvel-and-riddle; āgī kāya jāṇe maḍhe — does the corpse know fire.
What it means
A 3-verse rebirth-burst metaphysical text. Births-after-births were-being-strung-as-a-garland-around-the-neck on-the-wheel-of-rebirth; the-kumbha-burst, I-became niṣkāma-svayambhū (desireless-self-existent); now-no-settled-place — the-forced-corvée-wandering is-mockery; Tukā: marvel and riddle — does the corpse know fire? The final image: once you've-died-to-the-old, the body's-burning is no concern of yours.
For someone today
When the kumbha of desire breaks, no-place-and-every-place both fit. The corpse-doesn't-feel-fire — the deha-atīta image of one beyond bodily-conditions.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's metaphysical kumbha-burst; niṣkāma-svayambhū; corpse-doesn't-know-fire text
- Companion to 2937 (deha-atīta) and 2922 (karma-became-Nārāyaṇa)