संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3696 of 4582

Abhanga 3696

Human bonds can never fully satisfy our deepest longing, and once the essential secret has been shared, what remains to be done with it is yours alone.

When you expect a parent or family member to complete a longing that they cannot fully answer

When you are told the essence of a teaching but still have to work out the rest yourself

When you have to wait for something to unfold in its own time instead of forcing it now

The verse

आवडी न पुरे मायबापापासीं । घडों का येविसीं सकईंल ॥१॥ होईंल नेमलें आपुलिया काळें । आलीयाचा बळें आघ्रो उरे ॥ध्रु.॥ जाणविलें तेथे थोडें एकवेळा । सकळ ही कळा सर्वोत्तमीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे निवेदिलें गुह्य गुज । आतां तुझी तुज सकळ चिंता ॥३॥

Literal translation

Āvaḍī-not-fulfilled-māyabāpa — how-ever-happen. Will-happen-at-its-own-kāḷa — baḷa-āghrō-stays. Little-once-known-there — all-kaḷā-in-supreme. Tukā: told-guhya-guja — now-all-chintā-yours-on-yours.

What it means

A 3-verse resolution. The love isn't fulfilled with the parents — how could it ever be done? It will happen at its own time; the surplus stays. What's been told a little here is in the supreme; I've told the secret — now all the worry is yours.

For someone today

Tukārām says that longing is never fully satisfied through ordinary human bonds, even the closest ones like parent and child; some things ripen only in their own time, and what remains is a kind of grace that outlasts the wanting. He notes that only a little of the deepest secret can be spoken aloud, because the fullness of it lives only in the Supreme itself. Having shared what he can of that secret teaching, he steps back and says the rest of the responsibility, the working-out of it, now belongs to the listener. Teaching can only take you so far; what you do with it is yours to carry.

मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की आवड, ओढ ही केवळ सामान्य नात्यांतून, अगदी आईवडिलांसारख्या जवळच्या नात्यांतूनही पूर्ण भरून येत नाही; काही गोष्टी आपल्याच वेळेनुसार घडतात, आणि जे उरते ते त्या ओढीपेक्षाही मोठे असते. ते सांगतात की सर्वात खोल गुपिताचा फार थोडासाच भाग शब्दांत मांडता येतो, कारण त्याची पूर्णता फक्त परमेश्वरातच आहे. आपल्याला जमेल तेवढे गुपित सांगून झाल्यावर ते म्हणतात की आता बाकीची जबाबदारी, ते प्रत्यक्षात आणण्याचे काम, ऐकणाऱ्याचे स्वतःचे आहे. शिकवण फक्त इथपर्यंत घेऊन जाऊ शकते; पुढे काय करायचे ते तुमचेच काम आहे.

Where this applies

Tukārām's told-guhya-guja; chintā-yours canonical-resolution

Mortality / Vairāgya Autobiographical