संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 4564 of 4582

Abhanga 4564

Only when fear and separateness finally break down does a real, face to face reckoning with God become possible, and he already knows our most hidden weaknesses.

When years of fear and resistance finally give way to an honest, direct confrontation with the truth.
When you feel exposed because someone knows your weak point better than you do yourself.
When a long-avoided reckoning turns out to be necessary before real change can happen.

The verse

वांयां तैसे बोल हरिशीं अंतर । केले होती चार भयभेदें ॥१॥ भेदभय गेलें नोळखे आपणा । भेटी नारायणा कंसा जाली ॥२॥ जाली भेटी कंसा हरिशीं निकट । सन्मुख चि नीट येरयेरां ॥३॥ येरयेरां भेटी युद्धाच्या प्रसंगीं । त्याचें शस्त्र अंगीं हाणितलें ॥४॥ त्याचें वर्म होतें ठावें या अनंता । तुका म्हणे सत्तानायक हा ॥५॥

Literal translation

Vain-bōls-Hari-distance — made-chāra-by-bhēda-bhaya. Bhēda-bhaya-gone-no-self-recognition — bhēṭī-Nārāyaṇa-Kamsa-happened. Happened-bhēṭī-close-sanmukha-direct. Yuddha-occasion-weapon-on-body. His-varma-known-Anantā — Tukā: sattā-nāyaka.

What it means

A 5-verse yamak-bandha — Kamsa-finally-meets-the-Lord. The moment: when bhēda-bhaya gone and he doesn't even recognize his own self — only-then-the-bhēṭī-with-Nārāyaṇa-happened. At the yuddha-occasion, face-to-face, Lord's-weapon-on-Kamsa's-body. The closing-claim: Kamsa's-varma (secret/vital-point) was-known-to-the-Anantā all-along — Lord is the sattā-nāyaka (lord-of-authority over everything). Pair with 4563 (preceding bhēda-blocks), 4566 (Kamsa-killed, Ugrasena-crowned).

For someone today

All the years of fear and difference that kept Kamsa distant from Hari finally broke apart, and only once he lost even his sense of his own separate self did the real meeting with God happen, face to face, at the moment of battle. There, God's weapon struck exactly where it needed to, because he had always known Kamsa's most vulnerable point. Tukaram calls this proof of who God truly is: the ultimate authority who knows every hidden thing about us, even the weaknesses we've hidden even from ourselves.

मराठी: कंसाला हरिपासून दूर ठेवणारे भीती आणि भेद अखेर तुटले, आणि त्याने स्वतःची वेगळी ओळखही गमावली तेव्हाच खरी भेट युद्धाच्या क्षणी, समोरासमोर घडली. तिथे देवाचे शस्त्र नेमके त्याच जागी लागले, कारण त्याला कंसाचे सर्वात कमकुवत स्थान आधीपासूनच माहीत होते. तुकाराम याला देव खरोखर कोण आहे याचा पुरावा मानतात: तो सर्वोच्च सत्ताधारी आहे ज्याला आपल्याबद्दलची प्रत्येक लपलेली गोष्ट माहीत असते, अगदी आपण स्वतःपासूनही लपवलेल्या कमकुवतपणासुद्धा.

Where this applies

Related verses