Eng.Post 59A  Abhanga :-अणूरेणूया थोकडा । तुका आकाशाएवढा
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१) अणुरेणुया थोकडा । तुका आकाशाएवढा ॥ १ ॥

गिळूनी सांडिलें कळिवर । भवभयाचा आहार ॥ २॥

सांडिली त्रिपुटी । दीप उजळला घटी ॥ ३॥

तुका म्हणें आता । उरलो उपकारा पुरता ॥ ४ ॥

Verbatim Meaning:-

Now Tuka has become larger than the space and smaller than an atom. || 1||

He has eaten the visual world fear and left his physical body behind|| 2 ||

He has transcended the group of Threesome which are interrelated to each in this world ( Know-er( The one who understands) - Process of Knowing ( Understanding)-The thing that is understood ( Knowledge) || 3||

Now he is existing only to help the others in this world || 4||

Background for the Abhanga :-

( This abhanga is sung by Late Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and is available on You tube )

In this Abhanga , Tukarama Maharaj is describing His own state of Self ( Knowledge of Self) or what we can call as The state of being established in Brahman.

Attaining this knowledge of Self or Brahmajyana is the penultimate achievement of Human birth. The scriptures say that this is the purpose of our Human birth .(All the liberated souls and saints also preach the same thing. Brahmajyana, Atmajyana( Knowledge of Self), to know Who am I ? What is my real nature ? Liberation from the cycle of Birth-Death etc .All mean the same.

To describe this state using words is in fact impossible. We can not describe the sweetness of Sugar, it must be experienced to understand the same. However the Liberated ones still use the words to describe this state in order that we the Bonded ones will at least strive for attaining the same. This is the expectation of the Seers and Enlightened Saints from us.

The meaning of this abhanga can be derived only from the above described point of view. T request my readers to kindly let me know their thoughts and openiopns.

Meaning of the Abhanga :-

The God whom we also call as “Brahman” is omnipresent . He created this World. He pervades every thing in this world. To know Him means to merge with Him. This knowing Him is called Brahmjyana, or Atmjyana( knowledge of Self) . In our first post , we have taken the Abhanga “ Why don't you remember Him, … ) ; the All pervading quality of God was discussed but the repetition is inevitable here and hence is done again further.

In order to understand the meaning of the very first stanza ; we have to take help of present day knowledge of Astronomy.

If we observe the Universe in the night, then we see innumerable stars in the space. Taking help of mathematics we can try to know the size of this universe now. We know that the speed of light is 330000KJm/sec or 186000/-miles/sec. Thus in one year the light will travel 330000Km*60(seconds)*60(minutes)*24(hours)*365(days).It is estimated that the Light will require millions of years to reach the other end of the universe we see. This gives us an idea about the vastness of our universe. This universe is contained in the Space. God pervades this all and this also means that He is greater in Size that our universe.

Similarly He is smaller that the smallest atom. Inside the atom we have central proton around which move the electrons. The God is even smaller that these .Since He pervades that as well.

Tukaram Maharaja has used the word “ Akasha” for the Space in the abhanga.

Tukaram Maharaj has attained the unification with this Brahman and that is why He can say ( he says in the first stanza that he( Tukaram Himself) is greater that the universe and smaller that the Atoms.

In the second stanza Tukaram Maharaj describes the process of this unification with the Brahman. He says that He has transcended the group of Threesome which are interrelated to each in this world ( Know-er( The one who understands) - Process of Knowing ( Understanding)-The thing that is understood ( Knowledge) .

In our day to day dealing with the process of knowledge these three are separate from each other. The Know-er ( one who understands) is separate from the thing whose nature is Understood by him. What is understood is call Knowledge.

But in case of Knowledge of the Self all merge together. The one who understands, the knowledge and thing to understand ( Brahman or God) are all one and the same. This is called transcending the threesome in the abhanga. Tukaram Maharaj says that for him the state of Three are no more existing. All have merged into one.

However Tukaram Maharaj was not dead after attaining the knowledge of the Supreme. What does such an enlightened person do? How does he live in this world after getting the enlightenment? These questions are answered in the last stanza of the Abhanga. Tukaram Maharaj says that He now lives in this world only for helping the others. Obviously this help means the Upadesha or Preachings by him He is not expecting any returns for this activity of Helping. This is the attitude of every enlightened Saint who has attained Liberation. Same is the stae and purpose of rest of the life for Tukarama Maharaj as per this last stanza.

Teaching of the Abhanga :-

The teaching is “ We should believe and have faith on what the Saints have been preaching us.; and should follow those teaching in our life. This will enable us also to reach the state of Knowledge of our True Nature ; for which God has given us birth as Humans.

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