Abhanga 4580
God is naturally present everywhere, seen fully by those with faith and unseen by those without, and the one who truly experiences this presence becomes united with it.
The verse
गेला कोठें होता कोठुनियां आला । सहज व्यापला आहे नाहीं ॥१॥
आहे साच भावें सकळव्यापक । नाहीं अभाविक लोकां कोठें ॥२॥
कोठे नाहीं ऐसा नाहीं रिता ठाव । अनुभवी देव स्वयें जालें ॥३॥
जातों येतों आम्ही देवाचे सांगांतें । तुका म्हणे गात देवनाम ॥४॥
Literal translation
Where-went-where-came — sahaja-vyāpaka-yes-no. Saca-bhāve-all-pervading — abhāvika-no-place-anywhere. No-empty-place — anubhavī-Deva-svayam-jālē. Going-coming-with-Deva — Tukā: singing-Deva-Nāma.
What it means
A 4-verse non-dual-closing. The paradox: where-did-Lord-go-where-did-Lord-come-from — both-questions-resolve-since-he-is-sahaja-vyāpaka (naturally-all-pervading); for-saca-bhāva he-is-everywhere, for-abhāvika nowhere — no-place-is-empty. The radical claim: anubhavī Deva svayem jālē — the experiencer (himself) has become Deva. The bhakta-becomes-Deva-by-experience itself. Closing: we-come-and-go in-Deva's-company — singing-Deva-Nāma. Pair with 4579 (preceding Lord-took-us-along), 4581 (penultimate Tukārām-self-deprecation closing-prayer).
For someone today
Tukaram asks where the Lord went and where he came from, and answers that the question itself dissolves, because he is naturally present everywhere. To one who truly has faith, he fills every place, and to one without faith he seems to be nowhere, but no place is actually empty of him. Tukaram then makes a striking claim: the one who truly experiences this becomes one with God in that experience. So he says we go about our days in the Lord's company, simply singing his name as we come and go. The point for today is that you do not need to travel anywhere special to find the divine; your own faith and your own experience are what make him present or absent.
मराठी: तुकाराम विचारतात की परमेश्वर कोठे गेला आणि कोठून आला, आणि उत्तर देतात की हा प्रश्नच विरून जातो, कारण तो स्वाभाविकपणे सर्वत्र व्यापलेला आहे. ज्याला खरा भाव आहे त्याला तो सर्वत्र भरलेला दिसतो, आणि ज्याला भाव नाही त्याला तो कोठेच दिसत नाही, पण खरे तर कोणतीही जागा त्याच्याविना रिकामी नाही. मग तुकाराम एक ठाम विधान करतात: जो हे खरोखर अनुभवतो, तो स्वतःच त्या अनुभवात देवरूप होतो. म्हणून ते म्हणतात की आपण रोजचे जीवन देवाच्या सोबतीने जगतो, येता-जाता फक्त त्याचे नाम गात राहतो. आजच्या काळासाठी हा मुद्दा असा की परमेश्वराला शोधण्यासाठी कोठेही विशेष जावे लागत नाही; तुमचा स्वतःचा भाव आणि तुमचा स्वतःचा अनुभवच त्याला जवळ किंवा दूर बनवतो.
Where this applies
- When you search far and wide for God but feel he is nowhere to be found
- When you wonder whether faith itself changes what you are able to perceive
- When ordinary daily activity, like walking or working, feels disconnected from spiritual life
- When you want a simple practice, like repeating a name, to carry you through the day