Abhanga 4242
The verse
गंधर्वनगरीं क्षण एक राहावें । तें चि पैं करावें मुळक्षत्र ॥१॥
खपुष्पाची पूजा बांधोनि निर्गुणा । लक्ष्मीनारायणा तोषवावें ॥ध्रु.॥
वंध्यापुत्राचा लग्नाचा सोहळा । आपुलिया डोळां पाहों वेगीं ॥२॥
मृगजळा पोही घालुनि सज्ञाना । तापलिया जना निववावें ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे मिथ्या देहेंद्रियकर्म । ब्रम्हार्पण ब्रम्ह होय बापा ॥४॥
Literal translation
Gandharva-nagarī-kṣaṇa-live — foundation-mūḷa-kṣatra. Khapuṣpa-pūjā-to-nirguṇa — please-Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Vandhyā-putra-marriage — see-with-eyes. Mrga-jala-drink-by-sajñāna — calm-tormented. Tukā: deha-indriya-karma-mithyā — brahma-arpaṇa-becomes-brahma.
What it means
★★ THE canonical 4-verse 5-impossibility-allegories text. Live a moment in the mirage-city of celestials — make that the foundational field. Make worship with sky-flowers bound to the unqualified — please Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Quickly see with your own eyes the marriage-celebration of the barren-woman's son. Drink mirage-water through the wise — calm the tormented people. Tukā says: the body-sense-action is unreal — only brahma-offering becomes brahma, father. The classical 4 impossibilities (gandharva-nagarī, khapuṣpa, vandhyā-putra, mrga-jala) are stock-Vedānta-images of the unreal. Tukārām marshals them in parallel-construction to argue: all deha-indriya-karma is equally-impossible/false; only brahma-arpaṇa actually becomes brahma. The closing brahma-arpaṇa-brahma-hōya is a profound formulaic-truth: the offering-itself becomes brahman, in the act of offering-to-brahman. Pair with 2942 (true-samnyāsa = samkalpa-destruction), 2937 (deha-atīta).
For someone today
Tukārām: all-body-sense-action-is-as-unreal-as-mirage-city-sky-flowers-barren-woman's-son-mirage-water — only-the-offering-to-brahman-becomes-brahman.
Where this applies
- ★★ Tukārām's THE 5-impossibility-allegories + brahma-arpaṇa-becomes-brahma canonical