34th Post Date 29th April 13.लक्षुनियां योगी पाहाती आभास ।
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लक्षुनियां योगी पाहाती आभास । तेचि दिसे आम्हांस दृष्टीपुढें ॥ १॥

कर दोनी कटी राहिलासें उभा। सांव हे प्रभा अंगकांती ॥ २॥

व्यापूनि वेगळें राहिलेंसे दुरी । सकळां अंतरीं निर्विकार ॥ ३॥

रूप नाही रेखा नामही जयासी । आपुल्यां मानसी शिव ध्याय ॥ ४॥

अंतनाही पार वर्णा नाही थार । कुळ याति शिर हस्त्य पाद ॥ ५॥

अचेत चेतलॆं भक्तिचियां सुखें । आपुल्या कौतुकें तुका म्हणें ॥ ६॥

Verbatim Meaning:-

I see the same one whom Yogis see as an Illusion || 1||

(He) is standing with his hands on the waist.with (His) blackish skin Luster is glowing. (Attractively) || 2||

He is all pervading, but is not in the same. He who is ever Unchanging, is present in the heart of every beings|| 3||
 Shiva meditates on Him, though He has no form, name || 4||

(He has) no colour, caste, head, hands, legs and is infinite ( In size) || 5||
 This all pervading consciousness has become active due to Worship ( by the Disciples) on His own accord. Tuka says this with Love and appreciation || 6||

Background required for understanding the meaning of the Abhanga:-

We have seen that nature of God and many of His attributes in our previous Abhangas( For example the 1^st posting etc). This Abhanga is describing the God experienced by Saint Tukarama .
Tukarama Maharaj has already said that it is impossible to describe the God who is above/beyond all  the knowledge that can be gained through our Five sense organs and the Mind.
 In this   Abhanga Tukarama maharaj has once again described Him to bring  forward the importance of Bhakti.( The Love for God without any worldly expectations, love for Him purely for the sake of Love ).

We also have seen that the Vedas (Scriptures) describe God by the method of Negation. ie. By describing an object and then saying that He is not like this.

Let us see the meaning of some of the points stated in the Abhanga from this background now.

Meaning of the Abhanga:-

The efforts to describe How the Real God is are again summerized in the 3rd, 4th and 5th verses of this abhanga. And therefore the meaning of these verses is given  here without adding any  explanatory notes as below.

In 3^rd , 4^th , 5^th Stanza Tukarama Maharaj  has described only some important attribute of Parabrahman the Real God.. He is “ All pervading but is separate from the things He pervades”

, He is infinite in nature and therefore is "without Form, colour and Name and hence  without any head, hands, and any body parts. However it is not possible to describe Him using the words.

Now we can look to the balance verses.

1^st stanza:- Here Tukaram Maharaj says that the Yogis and Seers view this universe as an illusion while Maharaj himself  sees it as real.
 Let us  understand why the Yogis see our universe as an illusion .

Our scriptures have given a very deep thought to find out the reason for the creation of the Universe. If  one applies the rules of Cause and result relationship, then there a series of unending questions about the God arise. The nature of these question is as given below.

Suppose we say that God has created this Universe,then Who created the God.?
 Who created the creator of the creator of God?
Who created this creator of creator of creator?
It is clear that the chain of questions is infinite, unending.Then what is the solution?

 The example of Seeing a snake in a half-lit room is good enough to get us  the final answer.
. Suppose a Rope is lying in a room which is not illuminated properly. And then someone enters this room. The person who goes to the room , sees a snake there. He is very much afraid of it.
 Then someone comes and puts light on and wow!, there is no Snake but just a rope is seen lying. Immediately all the fear has vanished since the truth is now open and clear.
In our example the insufficient light is cause the fear. The Rope was the object on which we applied our imagination and thought it as a snake.

Similarly our Universe is understood as real and we go through various sufferings because we see it as Real. When we sleep then this universe has no existence for us is our daily experience.

Illusion of Universe is appliedon the Truth  by force of Ignorance, 

The Parabrahman is only the truth. Ignorance or “ Non-knowledge” is the reason why we do not perceive the Parabrahman . Non-knowledge is the insufficient light which makes us believe that the experienced universe is only true.This illusion causes our mind to get attached to the worldly pleasures and pains., all the worldly objects and hence tangles us forever in the cycle of birth and death. We forget our True nature.

Seers know this and see the universe as an Illusion.

This point is very important since it enables us to change our mindset. Because of our thinking that the visualyy experienced world is true; we get attached to all the things that are transient in nature including our body. We try to satisfy the demands of the sense organs which are themselves transient in nature. Sicne the number of attaractions are unlimited , we keep on haveing one desire after another , thus the whole lifetime goes wasted. A seeker of Liberation ( this also means become deathless) needs to develope dispassion in order tobreak the evil cycle.) Understanding that whatever I am experiencing is going to be a thing of past in the next moment, enables one to slowly develope the dispsssion and control over the mind.

I have a feeling that with the first verse  itself, we are getting the message to understand the above mentioned point.

2^nd Stanza :- Tukarama Maharaj says That the God is standing with His both hands resting on His waist.age of Viththala is standing. He has kept both His hands on his waist . The colour of this form is shining blackish and is glowing.When Tukaram maharaj is saying that he sees the God as Viththalaa of Pandharpur ( ie. With form) as real, it means that he is experiencing the formless God behind this visual form..In fact the next stanzas  describe what he sees.

Black is not a real colour. The space where visible light is absent is black. It indicates the infinite quality of the God.


In the last 6^th stanza Tukarama Maharaj has again brought forward to us the point that , such God has taken form because of  His love for His disciples(  who cannot perceive His true nature); In order to enable His disciples to worship Him God has assumed the Form.

Teaching Of the Abhanga :_

Again the point is the same. We being is the state of Duality can worship the God with any form. This worship will take us to the ultimate state of liberation where there is no difference between God and his disciple.

       

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