Abhanga 3734
Once the restless mind truly finds what it was searching for, fatigue turns to joy, and that one trustworthy thing becomes the honest measure for everything else in life.
The verse
आतां कोठें धांवे मन । तुझे चरण देखिलिया ॥१॥
भाग गेला सीण गेला । अवघा जाला आनंदु ॥ध्रु.॥
प्रेमरसें बैसली मिठी । आवडी लाठी मुखासी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आम्हां जोगें । विठ्ठल घोगें खरें माप ॥३॥
Literal translation
Where-mana-runs-having-seen-charaṇa. Fatigue-and-śrama-gone — all-ānanda. Embrace-in-prēma-rasa — āvaḍī-lāṭhī-at-mukha. Tukā: for-us-Viṭhṭhal-is-kharē-māpa.
What it means
A 3-verse settled-state. Now where will the mana run, having seen your feet? Fatigue and effort are gone — everything became ānanda; the embrace settled in prema-rasa, love is a stick at the mouth; for us yogi-types, Viṭhṭhal is the true measure of the grain-vessel. The closing-line uses the merchant's-grain-measure as bhakti-metaphor.
For someone today
Tukaram asks where the restless mind could possibly run now, once it has truly seen God's feet, because there is nowhere left worth running to. All his tiredness and weary effort simply melt away and turn into pure joy. The embrace of love settles deep, with affection held close like something you cannot let go of. Tukaram says that for people like him, sincerely seeking, Vitthal is the one true, honest measure by which everything else in life gets judged, the way a merchant trusts an honest scale.
मराठी: तुकाराम विचारतात की तुझे चरण खरोखर पाहिल्यावर आता हे मन कुठे धावणार, कारण धावण्यासारखी दुसरी जागाच उरत नाही. सगळा थकवा आणि श्रम विरघळून जातो आणि त्याचे रूपांतर निखळ आनंदात होते. प्रेमाची मिठी खोलवर स्थिरावते, जणू आवडीचा हात तोंडाशी घट्ट धरलेला आहे. तुकाराम म्हणतात की आपल्यासारख्या खऱ्या साधकांसाठी विठ्ठल हेच एकमेव खरे मोजमाप आहे, ज्याप्रमाणे व्यापारी प्रामाणिक मापावर विश्वास ठेवतो, त्याचप्रमाणे बाकी सगळे त्याच्याशीच तोलले जाते.
Where this applies
- When you finally find something so satisfying that your restless searching just stops
- When exhaustion from chasing after things suddenly turns into real, settled joy
- When you find one relationship or value so trustworthy that you measure everything else against it
- When a deep affection settles into you so fully that you can't imagine wanting to pull away from it