Abhanga 4521
When a community discovers how much a beloved presence holds their world together, life without that connection feels false, and grief for one becomes grief shared by everyone around them.
The verse
पाषाण फुटती तें दुःख देखोनि । करितां गौळणी शोक लोकां ॥१॥
काय ऐसें पाप होतें आम्हांपासीं । बोलती एकासी एक एका ॥२॥
एकांचिये डोळां असुं बाह्यात्कारी । नाहीं तीं अंतरीं जळतील ॥३॥
जळतील एकें अंतर्बाह्यात्कारें । टाकिलीं लेकुरें कडियेहूनि ॥४॥
निवांत चि एकें राहिलीं निश्चिंत । बाहेरी ना आंत जीव त्यांचे ॥५॥
त्यांचे जीव वरी आले त्या सकळां । एका त्या गोपाळांवांचूनियां ॥६॥
वांचणें तें आतां खोटें संवसारीं । नव्हे भेटी जरी हरिसवें ॥७॥
सवें घेऊनियां चालली गोपाळां । अवघीं च बाळा नर नारी ॥८॥
नर नारी नाहीं मनुष्याचें नावें । गोकुळ हें गांव सांडियेलें ॥९॥
सांडियेलीं अन्नें संपदा सकळ । चित्ती तो गोपाळ धरुनि जाती ॥१०॥
तिरीं माना घालूनियां उभ्या गाईं । तटस्थ या डोहीं यमुनेच्या ॥११॥
यमुनेच्या तिरीं झाडें वृक्ष वल्ली । दुःखें कोमाइलीं कृष्णाचिया ॥१२॥
यांचें त्यांचें दुःख एक जालें तिरीं । मग शोक करी मायबाप ॥१३॥
मायबाप तुका म्हणे सहोदर । तोंवरी च तीर न पवतां ॥१४॥
Literal translation
Pāṣāṇa phuṭatī te duḥkha dekhōni — karitām gauḷaṇī śōka lōkām — stones would-break seeing-this-grief; gauḷaṇī make lament to (the) people. Kāya aise pāpa hōte āmhām-pāsī — bōlatī ekāsī eka ekā — what pāpa was with us — they say to each other. Ekāñciye ḍōḷām asum bāhyātkārī — nāhīm tīm antarīm jaḷatīla — some have tears outwardly; those without burn inwardly. Jaḷatīla eke antar-bāhyātkāre — ṭākilīm lēkure kaḍiyehūni — some burn inside-and-out, having dropped children from the hip. Nivāmta chi eke rāhilīm niścinta — bāherī nā āmta jīva tyāñce — some remained quiet, niścinta; their jīva is neither outside nor inside. Tyāñce jīva varī āle tyā sakaḷām — ekā tyā gopāḷām-vāmchūniyām — their jīvas came up to all — except those gopāḷas. Vāmchaṇe te ātām khōṭe samvasārīm — navhe bheṭī jarī Hari-save — living-now in samsāra is false unless there is meeting with Hari. Save gheūniyām chālalī gopāḷām — avaghīm chi bāḷā nara nārī — taking-along with-the-gopāḷas they went — children, men, women, all. Nara nārī nāhī manuṣyāce nāve — Gōkuḷa he gāmva sāṇḍiyele — men-women not by the name of humans; the village of Gokula was abandoned. Sāṇḍiyelīm anne sampadā sakaḷa — citti tō gopāḷa dharuni jātī — food and all-property left; in chitti holding only the gopāḷa, they go. Tirī mānā ghāḷūniyām ubhyā gāīm — taṭastha yā ḍōhīm Yamunecyā — on the bank, cows stand bowing heads, motionless by the ḍoha of Yamunā. Yamunecyā tirī jhāḍe vrkṣa vallī — duḥkhe kōmāilīm Krṣṇāciyā — on Yamunā's bank, trees, vrkṣa-vallī withered with Krṣṇa-grief. Yāñce tyāñce duḥkha eka jāle tirī — maga śōka karī māyabāpa — their grief and others' grief became one on the bank; then māyabāpa grieve. Māyabāpa Tukā mhaṇe sahōdara — tōmvarī ca tira na pavatām — Tukā says: māyabāpa, sahōdara — until they reach the bank.
What it means
Tukārām's most-emotive mass-grief tableau in the Kāḷiyā-mardana cluster. Stones would-break, women drop-children-from-hip, village abandoned, food-and-property left, cows-bow-heads, trees-and-vines-wither with-Krṣṇa-grief. This is a direct eco-bhakti extension of 2471 (vrkṣa-vallī our-kinsmen): when-Hari-suffers, trees-vines wither in-sympathy. The grief of bhaktas and of the natural-world becomes-one at the bank.
For someone today
When word spreads that Krishna may have drowned, the grief is so enormous that it seems capable of breaking stone, women drop the children from their hips in shock, the whole village of Gokul empties out as everyone abandons food and belongings to rush toward the river, and even the cows and trees seem to wilt in sympathy. Tukaram is showing what happens when a community discovers how much one beloved presence actually holds their world together, life without that connection suddenly feels false and meaningless, and everything else, possessions, routines, comfort, becomes worthless by comparison. It is a picture of love so total that grief for one person becomes grief shared by everyone and everything around them.
मराठी: कृष्ण बुडाल्याची बातमी पसरताच इतके अफाट दुःख उसळते की जणू दगडही फुटावेत, महिला धक्क्याने मुलांना कडेवरून खाली टाकतात, संपूर्ण गोकुळ गाव रिकामे होते कारण सगळेजण अन्न-वस्तू सोडून नदीकडे धावतात, आणि गायी व झाडेसुद्धा दुःखाने कोमेजल्यासारखी दिसतात. तुकाराम यातून दाखवतात की जेव्हा एखाद्या समाजाला कळते की एक प्रिय व्यक्ती त्यांचे संपूर्ण जग किती एकत्र बांधून ठेवत होती, तेव्हा त्या नात्याशिवायचे जगणे अचानक खोटे आणि निरर्थक वाटू लागते, आणि बाकी सगळे, संपत्ती, नित्यक्रम, सुखसोयी, त्यापुढे कवडीमोलाचे ठरतात. हे इतक्या पूर्ण प्रेमाचे चित्र आहे की एका व्यक्तीचे दुःख सर्वांचे आणि सभोवतालच्या सगळ्याचेच दुःख बनते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's most-emotive mass-grief tableau
- Eco-bhakti extension of 2471 (vrkṣa-vallī)
- Companion to 2811 (bheṭīlāgīm-jīvā-lāgalīse-āsa)
- Kāḷiyā-mardana cluster