Abhanga 4562
Total absorption, even one that begins in hostility, can dissolve a person's sense of separate self until they see God alone present in everything.
The verse
जीवभाव त्याचा गेला अभिमान । म्हणऊनि जन हांसे कंसा ॥१॥
सावध करितां नये देहावरि । देखोनियां दुरि पळे जन ॥२॥
जन वन हरि जालासे आपण । मग हे लोचन झांकियेले ॥३॥
झांकुनि लोचन मौन्यें चि राहिला । नाहीं आतां बोलायाचें काम ॥४॥
बोलायासि दुजें नाहीं हें उरलें । जन कृष्ण जाले स्वयें रूप ॥५॥
रूप पालटलें गुण नाम याति । तुका म्हणे भूतीं देव जाला ॥६॥
Literal translation
Kamsa-jīva-bhāva-abhimāna-gone — jana-laugh-Kamsa. Sāvadha-not-on-body — people-flee. Jana-vana-Hari-himself-became — closed-lōchana-silent. No-bōlaya-kāma — no-second-left. Jana-Krṣṇa-svayam-rūpa. Rūpa-pālaṭalē-guṇa-nāma-yāti — Tukā: bhūtīm-Deva-jālā.
What it means
A 6-verse yamak-bandha — Kamsa-reaches-non-dual-experience. The narrative-arc: Kamsa's-jīva-bhāva-abhimāna-gone → he-can't-be-made-alert → people-flee → he-sees-himself-becoming-everything (jana-vana-Hari) → closes-eyes → stays-silent → 'no-second-to-speak-to' → jana-have-become-Krṣṇa-themselves → rūpa-guṇa-nāma-yāti changed — in-all-beings, Deva-has-become. The closing-claim is a radical-non-dual-formulation: Kamsa-through-hatred-meditation-arrives-at-the-same-non-dual-vision-as-the-greatest-bhaktas. Pair with 4561 (preceding), 4563-4564 (continuing).
For someone today
Kamsa's obsessive fixation on Krishna finally strips away his sense of self and his pride, so completely that people laugh at him and then, seeing how far gone he is, simply run away in fear. He looks around and sees everyone and everything, people and forest alike, as Hari himself, so he closes his eyes and falls silent, because there's no longer anyone separate left to speak to. Tukaram says this is the deepest transformation possible: the very shape of the world he saw, its names, forms, and distinctions, dissolved, and God alone remained present in every being.
मराठी: कंसाची कृष्णावरची वेडसर एकाग्रता शेवटी त्याचा अहंकार आणि स्वतःची जाणीव इतकी नाहीशी करते की लोक त्याला हसतात आणि नंतर, त्याची अवस्था पाहून, घाबरून पळून जातात. तो आजूबाजूला पाहतो तेव्हा त्याला माणसे आणि रान सर्व काही हरिच दिसते, म्हणून तो डोळे मिटतो आणि शांत होतो, कारण आता बोलण्यासाठी वेगळे असे कोणीच उरलेले नसते. तुकाराम म्हणतात, ही सर्वात खोल परिवर्तन आहे: त्याने पाहिलेल्या जगाचे रूप, नावे आणि भेद सगळे विरून गेले, आणि प्रत्येक जीवात फक्त देवच उरला.
Where this applies
- When you become so consumed by something that your usual sense of self starts to dissolve
- When people around you don't understand a profound shift you're going through and pull away from you
- When distinctions and labels you once relied on stop making sense to you
- When silence feels more honest than speech because words no longer capture what you're experiencing