Abhanga 3792
Every action is shaped by a larger hand arranging things into place, and even when the truth looks hazy to us, that does not make it any less real.
The verse
तरी च हीं केलीं । दानें वाईंट चांगलीं ॥१॥
येक येक शोभवावें । केलें कवतुक देवें ॥ध्रु.॥
काय त्याची सत्ता । सूत्र आणीक चाळिता ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धुरें । डोळे भरिले परि खरें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Only-then — good-bad-acts-real. One-by-one-shobha — Deva's-kavatuka. What-power-his — sūtra-another-pulls. Tukā: smoke-fills-eyes — but-real.
What it means
A 3-verse sūtradhāra-doctrine. Only thus are good-and-bad acts (real). Each is made fitting, one by one — it is Deva's display. What is the (acting one's) own power? — Another thread moves (the puppet). Smoke fills the eyes (i.e., it looks unclear) — but still it is real. The line sūtra āṇīka chāḷitā (another-thread-pulls) is the puppet-image of divine-sūtradhāra causality. The closing smoke-fills-eyes-but-real preserves the paradox: causal-veiling is real but doesn't undo the underlying truth.
For someone today
Tukārām: another-thread-pulls — Deva's-kavatuka — smoke-fills-eyes — but-real.
Where this applies
- When you take too much credit or blame for outcomes that were shaped by forces beyond your control
- When life feels confusing and unclear, like looking through smoke, yet you sense something true is still happening underneath
- When you notice a larger pattern arranging events into place even though no single actor seems fully in control
- When you want to trust that unclear or hazy circumstances do not make the deeper truth of a situation any less real