Abhanga 4436
A moment of complete absorption in something sacred can feel like the boundary between yourself and what you're witnessing simply dissolves.
The verse
डोळियांचें दैव आजि उभें ठेलें । निधान देखिलें पंढरीये ॥१॥
काय ते वानावें वाचेचे पालवें । वेदा न बोलवे रूप ज्याचें ॥ध्रु.॥
आनंदाच्या रसें ओंतीव चांगलें । देखतां रंगलें चित्त माझें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे मी तों सगळाच विरालों । विठ्ठल चि जालों दर्शनानें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Eye's-daiva-stood — niddhāna-saw-Paṇḍharī. What-vāchā-pālava-vānāvē — veda-can't-speak-rūpa. Ānanda-rasa-ōntīva — chitta-coloured-on-seeing. Tukā: I-totally-vanished — Viṭṭhal-I-became-by-darśana.
What it means
THE canonical 3-verse darśana-transformation text. The eye's fortune has, today, stood; I've seen the treasure at Paṇḍharī. What can I describe by the loose-end of my speech — when even the Veda cannot speak his form? He is poured-good in the bliss-rasa; seeing him, my chitta was coloured. Tukā says: I have entirely dissolved; I have become Viṭṭhal himself by the darśana. The radical-claim: Viṭṭhal-darśana = bhakta-becomes-Viṭṭhal (Tukā-virālōm + Viṭṭhal-jālōm). The ōmtīva (poured-into-mold) image is striking — Viṭṭhal is poured-good in bliss-rasa-mold. Pair with 4289 (5-color-chinmaya-anjana → tatvamasi), 4279 (ripened-sēndha-Pāṇḍuranga-svayameva).
For someone today
Tukārām describes a moment when his eyes finally found what they were meant for, seeing the true treasure at Paṇḍharpur. He says his words fall short of describing it, since even the Vedas cannot fully capture that form. Watching it, he says his whole heart was colored by that vision of bliss, poured into something beautiful right before him. And then comes the striking claim: in that moment of seeing, he says he dissolved completely and became one with Viṭṭhal himself. This is a picture of what deep, total absorption in something sacred can feel like, so complete that the boundary between the one looking and what is seen seems to disappear.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा एका क्षणाचे वर्णन करतात जेव्हा त्यांच्या डोळ्यांना खरोखर जे पाहायचे होते ते सापडले, पंढरपुरातील खरा खजिना. ते म्हणतात की हे वर्णन करण्यासाठी त्यांचे शब्द अपुरे पडतात, कारण वेदही त्या रूपाचे पूर्ण वर्णन करू शकत नाहीत. ते पाहताना, त्यांचे संपूर्ण मन त्या आनंदमय दर्शनाने रंगून गेले, जणू ते सौंदर्य समोरच ओतले गेले. आणि मग एक धाडसी दावा येतो, त्या दर्शनाच्या क्षणी ते पूर्णपणे विरघळून गेले आणि स्वतः विठ्ठलच झाले. एखाद्या पवित्र गोष्टीत खोल, संपूर्ण तल्लीनता कशी असू शकते, इतकी पूर्ण की पाहणारा आणि जे पाहिले जाते यातील सीमारेषाच नाहीशी व्हावी, याचे हे चित्र आहे.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE Viṭṭhal-darśana → bhakta-becomes-Viṭṭhal canonical darśana-transformation