Abhanga 4331
Sustained, fearless meditation can dissolve even the sense of a separate body, the way camphor disappears completely near a flame.
The verse
पंधरा दिवसांमाजी साक्षात्कार जाला । विठोबा भेटला निराकार ॥१॥
भांबगिरिपाठारीं विस्त जाण केली । वृत्ति थिरावली परब्रम्हीं ॥ध्रु.॥
निर्वाण जाणोनि आसन घातलें । ध्यान आरंभिलें देवाजीचें ॥२॥
सर्प विंचू व्याघ्र आंगासी झोंबले । पीडूं जे लागले सकळिक ॥३॥
दीपकीं कर्पूर कैसा तो विराला । तैसा देह जाला तुका म्हणे ॥४॥
Literal translation
Pandharā divasāmmājī sākṣātkāra jālā — Viṭhōbā bheṭalā nirākāra: in fifteen days sākṣātkāra happened — Viṭhōbā met as formless. Bhāmbgiripāṭhārīm vista jāṇa kelī — vrtti thirāvalī parabrahmīm: on Bhāmbgiri-plateau retreat was established — vrtti steadied in parabrahma. Nirvāṇa jāṇoni āsana ghātale — dhyāna ārambhile devājīche: knowing nirvāṇa, āsana laid — Devājī's dhyāna begun. Sarpa viñchū vyāghra āngāsī jhōmbale — pīḍūm je lāgale sakaḷika: serpent-scorpion-tiger clung-to-body — all began to torment. Dīpakīm karpūra kaisā tō virālā — taisā deha jālā Tukā mhaṇe: as camphor dissolves in the lamp — so the body became, Tukā says.
What it means
A 4-verse autobiographical-tapas text. On Bhāmbgiri (Bhandara-mountain/Bhāmbarayāchā ḍongara), Tukārām did 15-day tapas; Viṭhōbā met him as formless; sarpa-viñchū-vyāghra clung to body to torment, yet body dissolved like camphor in a lamp.
For someone today
Tukārām's testimony: sustained tapas-retreat in 15 days yielded formless-darśana; even bodily tortures became as camphor-in-lamp dissolution.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's autobiographical Bhāmbgiri-tapas; nirākāra-Viṭhōbā-darśana canonical
- Companion to 2659-2662 (self-cremation vision cluster)