Abhanga 4069
When grace truly arrives, it is complete understanding in itself, needing nothing fetched from elsewhere, and it dissolves the sense of being a small, separate creature.
The verse
जरि हा हो कृपा करिल नारायण । तरी हें चि ज्ञान ब्रम्ह होय ॥१॥
कोठोनियां कांहीं न लगे आणावें । न लगे कोठें जावें तरावया ॥ध्रु.॥
जरी देव कांहीं धरिल पैं चित्तीं । तरि हे चि होती दिव्य चक्षु ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देव दावील आपणा । तरि जीवपणा ठाव नाहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
If-Nārāyaṇa-krpā — jñāna-becomes-brahma. Nothing-to-bring-from-elsewhere — no-place-to-go-to-cross. If-Deva-holds-in-chitta — divya-chakṣu. Tukā: Deva-shows — no-jīvapaṇā-place.
What it means
A 3-verse Deva-revelation-yields-jñāna text. If Nārāyaṇa shows mercy — this very state becomes jñāna, brahman. Nothing has to be brought from elsewhere; no place to go to cross-over. If Deva holds (us) in his attention, these very eyes become divine-eyes. If Deva shows himself — creature-ness has no place. The closing jīvapaṇa-ṭhāva-nāhīm is the most-direct statement: self-as-creature-disappears upon Deva-darśana.
For someone today
Tukaram says that if God's grace truly touches someone, that grace itself becomes real understanding, real wisdom, nothing extra needs to be fetched from anywhere else. You don't have to travel somewhere or go searching in a far place to cross over into that truth, because when it comes, it comes right where you are. If God simply holds you in his attention, ordinary eyes themselves turn into eyes capable of seeing the divine. And when God reveals himself directly, Tukaram says, the small separate sense of being just a limited creature has nowhere left to stand.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की जर देवाची कृपा खरोखर एखाद्याला स्पर्श करते, तर तीच कृपा खरे ज्ञान बनते, दुसरीकडून काही आणण्याची गरज उरत नाही. त्या सत्यापर्यंत पोहोचण्यासाठी कुठे प्रवास करावा लागत नाही किंवा दूर कुठे शोधावे लागत नाही, कारण ते आले की तुम्ही जिथे आहात तिथेच येते. जर देवाने फक्त आपले लक्ष तुमच्याकडे ठेवले, तर सामान्य डोळेच दैवी पाहू शकणारे डोळे बनतात. आणि जेव्हा देव स्वतः प्रत्यक्ष प्रकट होतो, तुकाराम म्हणतात, तेव्हा स्वतःला केवळ मर्यादित प्राणी समजण्याच्या लहान वेगळ्या जाणिवेला उभे राहायला जागाच उरत नाही.
Where this applies
- When you feel you must travel far or search endlessly to find real understanding or peace
- When you sense that grace or insight has touched you and wonder if you need anything more
- When you long to see the sacred in ordinary life rather than somewhere distant and unreachable
- When your sense of being small and separate starts to soften in a moment of real connection