Abhanga 3781
The rift between self and God comes only from ego, and once that illusion is seen through, there is no separation left, even solitary joy turns out to include everyone you love.
The verse
म्हणउनि जाली तुटी । नाहीं भेटी अहंकारें ॥१॥
दाखविलें देवें वर्म । अवघा भ्रम नासला ॥ध्रु.॥
हातें मुरगाळितां कान । नाहीं भिन्न वेदना ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे एकांतसुखें । अवघें गोतें गुंतलें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Mhaṇauni jālī tuṭī — therefore the rift happened; nāhīm bheṭī ahamkāre — no meeting because of ahamkāra. Dākhavile devem varma — Deva showed the vital-secret; avaghā bhrama nāsalā — all bhrama was destroyed. Hātem muragāḷitām kāna — twisting the ear with the hand; nāhīm bhinna vedanā — no separate pain. Tukā mhaṇe ekāmta-sukhem — Tukā says: in the joy-of-the-alone; avaghe gōte gumtale — the whole kin got tangled (included).
What it means
A 3-verse compressed non-duality text. Rift-came-from-ahamkāra — no-meeting; Deva-showed-the-varma — bhrama-destroyed; twisting-own-ear-with-own-hand — no-separate-pain (the-hurt-and-the-hurter are-one); in-the-joy-of-the-alone, all-kin-are-tangled-in. The twisting-own-ear image is precise — when you punish yourself with your own hand, there is no second-person-vedanā.
For someone today
Tukaram says the only reason there is ever a rift between him and God is ego, that stubborn sense of being a separate self. Once God revealed the essential secret, the whole illusion of separation fell apart. He uses a simple image: if you twist your own ear with your own hand, there is no separate person feeling the pain, because the one causing it and the one feeling it are the same. In that solitary, inward joy, Tukaram says, everyone he loves turns out to be tangled up inside it too, not left outside.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की देवाशी असलेला दुरावा फक्त अहंकारामुळेच निर्माण होतो, म्हणजे आपण वेगळे आहोत ही जिद्दी भावना. देवाने खरे रहस्य दाखवल्यावर वेगळेपणाचा हा सगळा भ्रम नष्ट झाला. ते एक साधे उदाहरण देतात: जर तुम्ही स्वतःच्या हाताने स्वतःचा कान पिरगाळला, तर वेदना जाणवणारी वेगळी व्यक्तीच नसते, कारण दुखावणारा आणि दुखावला जाणारा दोघेही एकच असतात. त्या एकांतातल्या, आतल्या आनंदात, तुकाराम म्हणतात, आपण ज्यांच्यावर प्रेम करतो ते सगळेच त्यात गुंतलेले आढळतात, बाहेर राहत नाहीत.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's no-separate-pain (non-duality); in-ekāmta-all-tangled canonical
- Companion to non-dual-identification (2917) and karma-became-Nārāyaṇa (2922)