Abhanga 4260
Reaching a truly closed mind is harder than any impossible feat, yet grace can still free even a great sinner in a single instant, so nothing is beyond hope.
The verse
मणि पडिला दाढेसी मकरतोंडीं । सुखें हस्तें चि काढवेल प्रौढीं ॥१॥
परि मूर्खाचें चत्ति बोधवेना । दुधें कूर्मीच्या पाळवेल सेना ॥ध्रु.॥
सकळ पृथ्वी हिंडतां कदाचित । ससीसिंगाची प्राप्त होय तेथें ॥२॥
अतिप्रयत्नें गाळितां वाळुवेतें । दिव्य तेलाची प्राप्त होय तेथें ॥३॥
अतिक्रोधें खवळला फणी पाही । धरूं येतो मस्तकीं पुष्पप्रायी ॥४॥
पहा ब्रम्हानंदें चि एकीं हेळा । महापातकी तो तुका मुक्त केला ॥५॥
Literal translation
Diamond-on-crocodile-jaw — extracted-by-skill. But-fool's-chitta — no-bōdha. Turtle-cow-milk — feeds-armies. Search-earth — rabbit's-horn. Grind-sand — divine-oil. Angry-snake-head — grasped-as-flower. Tukā: brahmānanda-one-hēḷā — mahā-pātakī-Tukā-made-mukta.
What it means
THE canonical 6-verse 5-impossibility-list + Tukā's-mukti text. A jewel fallen in the crocodile's jaw can be extracted easily by hand-skill. But the fool's heart cannot be made to take instruction. With turtle-cow milk, armies can be raised. Wandering the whole earth, one might find a rabbit's-horn at some place. With great effort grinding sand, divine oil can be obtained. Even an angry snake's hood can be grasped by the head as if it were a flower. See — by brahmānanda — by just one instant — Tukā the great-sinner has been made free. The 5 impossibilities-easier-than-fool's-instruction: (1) diamond from crocodile's-jaw, (2) turtle-cow-milk-army, (3) rabbit's-horn, (4) sand-into-divine-oil, (5) angry-snake-head-as-flower. Closing inversion: but even an impossibility-of-greater-magnitude was performed — Tukā the great-sinner was made mukta by one instant of brahmānanda. Pair with 4257 (5-image instructional-futility), 2787 (bhakti-redeems-fallen).
For someone today
Tukaram lists a string of near-impossible feats: prying a jewel from a crocodile's jaw, raising an army on milk from a mythical turtle-cow, finding a rabbit's horn by searching the whole earth, pressing sand into fine oil, or calmly grasping an enraged, hooded snake as though it were a flower. He says every one of these is still easier than getting through to a truly closed, foolish mind. And yet, he says, something even harder than all of that happened to him. In a single instant of divine joy, he, a great sinner by his own account, was set completely free, which shows that grace can do what seems entirely impossible.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशक्यप्राय गोष्टींची एक यादीच देतात, मगरीच्या जबड्यातून हिरा काढणं, कासव-गायीच्या दुधावर सैन्य पोसणं, संपूर्ण पृथ्वी शोधून ससाच्या शिंगाचा शोध घेणं, वाळू दळून तेल काढणं, किंवा संतापलेल्या फणा काढलेल्या सापाला फुलासारखं शांतपणे धरणं. ते म्हणतात, या सगळ्यापेक्षाही खरोखर बंद, मूर्ख मनापर्यंत पोहोचणं अवघड आहे. आणि तरीही, ते म्हणतात, यापेक्षाही कठीण गोष्ट त्यांच्याबाबतीत घडली. ब्रह्मानंदाच्या एका क्षणात, स्वतः महापातकी असूनही, ते पूर्णपणे मुक्त झाले, आणि यातूनच दिसतं की कृपा अगदी अशक्य वाटणारी गोष्टही करू शकते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE 5-impossibility-list + mahā-pātakī-mukta canonical