Abhanga 4397
It is honest to hold both beliefs at once, that something is everywhere true and yet still feels personally absent, and to keep asking for a real, practical way to close that gap.
The verse
तुजवीण तीळभरी रिता ठाव । नाहीं ऐसें विश्व बोलतसे ॥१॥
बोलियेले योगी मुनी साधु संत । आहेसि या आंत सर्वांठायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
मी तया विश्वासें आलों शरणागत । पूर्वीचें अपत्य आहें तुझें ॥२॥
अनंत ब्रम्हांडें भरोनि उरलासि । मजला जालासि कोठें नाहीं ॥३॥
अंतपार नाहीं माझिया रूपासि । काय सेवकासि भेट देऊं ॥४॥
ऐसें विचारिलें म्हणोनि न येशी । सांग हृषीकेशी मायबापा ॥५॥
तुका म्हणे काय करावा उपाय । जेणें तुझे पाय आतुडति ॥६॥
Literal translation
Not-tilbharī-empty-without-you — viśva-says. Yōgi-muni-sādhu-santa-said — you-in-all-places. Came-on-this-faith — śaraṇa-pūrva-apatya. Ananta-brahmāṇḍa-filled-remain — for-me-no-place. Antapāra-of-rūpa — what-bhēṭa-to-sevaka. Thus-considered — don't-come. Tukā: what-upāya — by-which-feet-attained.
What it means
THE canonical 6-verse paradox-of-omnipresent-Lord-yet-absent petition. Not a sesame-seed-bit of place is empty without you — so the world says. Yōgis, munis, sādhus, santas have said — you are within, in all places. I came as a refugee on this faith — I am your child-from-of-old. Filling countless brahmāṇḍas you remain — but for me, you have not become (any place)? (You will object) — there is no limit to my form — what darśana shall I give to (this) sevaka? Having thus considered, you do not come — tell, Hrṣīkēśī māyabāpā. Tukā says: what means is to be made — by which your feet are attained? The argument-cascade: (1) common-faith: no-place-empty-of-you; (2) yōgi-muni-sādhu-santa-attestation; (3) bhakta's-self-claim: I-am-your-old-child; (4) paradox: brahmāṇḍa-filled but I-have-no-place-of-you; (5) rebutted-objection: you'd-say-formless-can't-give-finite-darśana; (6) the bhakta's-final-question: what-upāya then? Pair with 4391 (sūtra-dhārī-puppeteer), 4393 (aparādha-Name-krpāvanta).
For someone today
Tukaram wrestles openly with a real contradiction in this verse. Everyone says there is not even the smallest space anywhere that is empty of God, and every yogi, sage, and saint agrees that God is present within everything, everywhere. He has come trusting exactly that teaching, calling himself God's own child from long ago, fully expecting to find that presence close by. Yet he points out the paradox honestly, that even while filling countless universes, somehow there seems to be no place for him specifically, no direct meeting for this one devoted servant. He even anticipates the answer he might get, that a formless being with no limits cannot be expected to show up in one finite place, but he pushes past that excuse and simply asks what practical thing he can actually do to truly reach that presence.
मराठी: या अभंगात तुकाराम एका खऱ्या विरोधाभासाशी उघडपणे झगडतात. सगळे म्हणतात की कुठेच, अगदी तिळाएवढीही जागा देवाशिवाय रिकामी नाही, आणि प्रत्येक योगी, मुनी, साधू-संत सांगतो की देव प्रत्येक ठिकाणी, प्रत्येकाच्या आत आहे. याच शिकवणीवर विश्वास ठेवून ते शरण आले आहेत, स्वतःला देवाचे पूर्वीपासूनचे लेकरू म्हणवतात, आणि ती उपस्थिती जवळच सापडेल अशी अपेक्षा ठेवतात. पण ते प्रामाणिकपणे हा विरोधाभास मांडतात की अनंत ब्रह्मांडे भरून राहणाऱ्या त्या देवाला माझ्यासाठी मात्र जागाच नाही का, या एका भक्तासाठी प्रत्यक्ष भेट का नाही. आपल्याला मिळणारे उत्तरही ते आधीच ओळखतात — निराकार, अमर्याद अशा रूपाला एका ठराविक ठिकाणी येणे कसे शक्य आहे — पण ते हे निमित्त बाजूला सारून थेट विचारतात की अशी कोणती प्रत्यक्ष कृती करावी की ज्याने खरोखर ती उपस्थिती गाठता येईल.
Where this applies
- When you are told something is everywhere present and true, yet you personally cannot seem to find or feel it
- When you trust a teaching fully but still feel a real gap between what you believe and what you experience
- When you anticipate the excuses you might be given and push past them to ask for something practical instead
- When you want a concrete next step rather than another reassurance that everything is already fine