Abhanga 4154
Hātapāya miḷōni meḷā — chalā mhaṇatī pāhōm ḍōḷām — hands-feet gathered as assembly — they say come let-us-see with eye.
The verse
हातपाय मिळोनि मेळा । चला म्हणती पाहों डोळां ॥१॥
देखणी नव्हे देखती कैसे । सकळांचा देखणा डोळा चि असे ॥२॥
डोऑयाचा डोळा पाहों गेला । तुका म्हणे तो पाहों ठेला ॥३॥
Literal translation
Hātapāya miḷōni meḷā — chalā mhaṇatī pāhōm ḍōḷām — hands-feet gathered as assembly — they say come let-us-see with eye. Dekhaṇī navhe dekhatī kaise — sakaḷāñcā dekhaṇā ḍōḷā chi ase — the visible is not the seer-how — for all the seer is the eye itself. Ḍōḷyāchā ḍōḷā pāhōm gelā — Tukā mhaṇe to pāhōm ṭhelā — the eye-of-the-eye went to see — Tukā says: that-one stayed-(absorbed)-in-seeing.
What it means
A 3-verse vedānta-mystical image. The-body's-parts-assemble-to-see; but-the-visible-is-not-the-seer; the-eye-is-the-seer; the-eye-of-the-eye (sākṣī, witness-of-the-witness) went-to-see — and-stayed-absorbed-in-seeing. The recursive image points to the drk (seer) behind all drśya (seen) — a classical Upaniṣadic netrasya netra (eye-of-the-eye) figure.
For someone today
Tukārām says: the-eye-is-the-real-seer; behind-the-eye-is-the-eye-of-the-eye; turn-and-look-there — and-you-stay-absorbed.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's eye-of-the-eye / sākṣī mystical-vedānta image
- Companion to 2837 (brahmāṇḍa-Paṇḍharī mystical-radiance)