Abhanga 3714
When grace and protection have filled you completely, separation no longer feels possible, and even a poet is left in a satisfied, wordless silence.
The verse
जडलों तों आतां पायीं । होऊं काईं वेगळा ॥१॥
तुम्हीं संतीं कृपा केली । गंगे चाली ओघाची ॥ध्रु.॥
सांभाळिलों मायबापा । केलों तापावेगळा ॥२॥
वोरसें या जीव धाला । तुका ठेला मौन्य चि ॥३॥
Literal translation
Attached-to-pāya — how-vēgaḷā. Sants-did-krpā — Gangā-flowing-current. Preserved-by-māyabāpa — kept-apart-from-tāpa. Jīva-satisfied-by-vōrasa — Tukā-stayed-in-mauna.
What it means
A 3-verse settled-state. I'm fixed at your feet — how can I be separate? The sants gave krpā like the Gangā's current; māya-bāpa preserved me, kept me apart from suffering; the rush-of-affection satisfied this jīva — Tukā has stayed-still-in-silence. The closing Tukā ṭhēlā mauna chi is striking — the eternal-poet falls silent.
For someone today
Tukārām says he has become so fixed at the feet of the divine that separation is no longer even possible, the way a river cannot separate from its own current. He describes the saints' grace flowing over him like the steady current of the Ganges, protecting him the way loving parents shield a child from harm and suffering. That rush of tenderness has filled his soul so completely that there is nothing left to say, and he simply falls silent. It is a picture of a satisfaction so deep that words, even for a poet, are no longer needed.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की ते आता परमेश्वराच्या चरणांशी इतके एकरूप झाले आहेत की वेगळेपणा शक्यच उरलेला नाही, जसे नदी आपल्याच प्रवाहापासून वेगळी होऊ शकत नाही. ते सांगतात की संतांची कृपा गंगेच्या स्थिर प्रवाहासारखी त्यांच्यावर वाहत आली, आणि प्रेमळ आईवडील मुलाला दुःखापासून जसे राखतात तसे त्यांनी त्यांना राखले. त्या ओसंडणाऱ्या मायेने त्यांचा जीव इतका तृप्त झाला की सांगण्यासारखे काहीच उरले नाही, आणि ते नुसतेच शांत झाले. हे इतक्या खोल समाधानाचे चित्र आहे की एका कवीलाही शब्दांची गरज उरत नाही.
Where this applies
- When you feel so bonded to someone or something that separation no longer feels possible
- When you notice the steady, protective care of people who have shielded you from real suffering
- When a wave of love or gratitude fills you so completely that you have nothing left to say
- When words finally stop and a deep, wordless contentment takes their place