Abhanga 4567
The same God who is beyond the reach of scripture and words still longs for his devotees like a restless lover waiting for them to arrive.
The verse
दिनाचा कृपाळु दुष्टजना काळ । एकला सकळ व्यापक हा ॥१॥
हांसे बोले तैसा नव्हे हा अनंत । नये पराकृत म्हणों यासि ॥२॥
यासि कळावया एक भक्तिभाव । दुजा नाहीं ठाव धांडोळितां ॥३॥
धांडोळितां श्रुति राहिल्या निश्चित । तो करी संकेत गोपींसवें ॥४॥
गोपिकांची वाट पाहे द्रुमातळीं । मागुता न्याहाळी न देखतां ॥५॥
न देखतां त्यांसि उठे बैसे पाहे । वेडावला राहे वेळोवेळां ॥६॥
वेळोवेळां पंथ पाहे गोपिकांचा । तुका म्हणे वाचा नातुडे तो ॥७॥
Literal translation
Dīna-krpāḷu — duṣṭa-jana-kāḷa — alone-vyāpaka. Not-prākrt — Anantā. Known-by-bhakti-bhāva — Vedas-stay-fixed. Makes-sankēta-with-gopīs. Watches-gopīs'-vāṭa-under-drumā — looks-without-seeing. Rises-sits-watches — vēḍāvalā-time-and-time-again. Watches-gopīs'-path — Tukā: vāchā-can't-touch-him.
What it means
A 7-verse yamak-bandha — Lord-as-gopīs'-lover paradox. The doctrine-narrative-paradox: (a) the Lord-is-the-compassionate-of-destitute, Kāla-of-wicked, alone-and-all-pervading, not-prākrt (ordinary), known-only-by-bhakti-bhāva, even Vedas-can't-find-him in-search, (b) YET — he-makes-samkēta (assignations) with-the-gopīs — waits-for-them-under-a-tree — rises, sits, watches restlessly — time-and-time-again-bewildered (vēḍāvalā) for the gopīs' arrival. The Lord-of-Vedas pining-for-cowherd-women — the paradox-at-the-heart of bhakti. Vāchā cannot touch him (he is beyond speech). Pair with 4566 (preceding), 4555 (Indra-stuti).
For someone today
God is described here as vast beyond imagining, compassionate to the helpless, all-pervading, and so far beyond the ordinary that even the Vedas searching endlessly cannot pin him down through study alone; only love and devotion reach him. And yet, in the same breath, Tukaram shows this same infinite being waiting under a tree for the gopis to arrive, restless, standing up and sitting down again, looking down the path over and over, hoping to catch sight of them. The paradox is the whole point: the one who is beyond words and beyond the reach of scripture still longs, like any lover, for the people who love him.
मराठी: इथे देवाचे वर्णन अफाट, गरिबांवर करुणा करणारा, सर्वव्यापी आणि इतका असामान्य आहे की वेद सुद्धा शोधून शोधून थकतात पण अभ्यासाने त्याला गाठू शकत नाहीत; फक्त प्रेम आणि भक्तीच त्याच्यापर्यंत पोहोचते. आणि तरीही, त्याच श्वासात, तुकाराम हेच अनंत रूप गोपींची वाट पाहत झाडाखाली अस्वस्थपणे उभे राहताना, बसताना, वाटेकडे वारंवार पाहताना दाखवतात, त्यांना दिसण्याची आस लागलेली. हा विरोधाभासच खरा मुद्दा आहे: जो शब्दांच्या आणि शास्त्रांच्या पलीकडे आहे तोही, कोणत्याही प्रियकरासारखा, त्याच्यावर प्रेम करणाऱ्यांची आतुरतेने वाट पाहतो.
Where this applies
- When you assume someone great or powerful couldn't possibly long for your presence the way you long for theirs
- When you're waiting restlessly for someone you love, checking the path or the clock again and again
- When you try to understand God or truth purely through study and feel it slipping away from pure reason
- When you need to trust that simple love reaches what analysis and effort alone cannot