Parimalachi dhaav
तैसी तुझी गोडी लागो मज
अवीट गे माय विटेना
जवळी आहे परी भेटेना
तृषा लागलिया जीवनातें ओढी
तैसी तुझी गोडी लागो या जिवा
बापरखुमादेविवरा विठ्ठलीं आवडी
गोडियेसी गोडी मिळोन गेली
Besides writing lengthy pieces of literature like the Bhavartha Deepika( popularly known as the Dnyaaneshwari), Amrutanubhav, and Changdev Pasashti, Sant Dnyaaneshwar is also the author of Haripath and several abhangas ( short devotional poems). There are some abhangas which speak for his personal feelings towards and understanding of God. In some, although it appears he is talking about himself, they are really meant for others. The Abhang I will discuss today is in the latter category. Irrespective of the category, all his poems carry tender emotions, and his signature style rich in analogies. His heart overflows with love towards the Divine Spirit in each of his poems and this one is no exception.
Parimal ( परिमळ) means fragrance( from flowers). Bhramar is a beetle. In the opening line he uses the example of a beetle to convey how a devotee ought to be. Just like a beetle is drawn towards the fragrance, may I be drawn to you O Vitthala. Dnyaaneshwara was already an ardent devotee of Vitthala and a spiritually liberated soul. He didn’t have to seek this virtue of single pointed love for God. Indirectly he is suggesting that a good man ought to train his mind to withdraw focus from worldly things and search for God.
परिमळाची धांव भ्रमर वोढी
तैसी तुझी गोडी लागो मज
Not just search but become passionate about it. Do it with real interest and joy.
Himself having tasted the sweet nectar of the divine self he asserts that whether or not someone tastes divinity, its sweetness is unchanging. It never ceases to be enjoyable. Whether a man serves God or not, God remains a place of eternal happiness.
अवीट गे माय विटेना
It is close to us yet we don’t see it, don’t get it. जवळी आहे परी भेटेना! Why? Because our senses are always pointed outwards towards objects. Every identifiable object, including our physical body or even our thoughts and emotions are distant than our divine self. Nothing is closer than this self. But we have no clue about it.
Dnyaaneshwar gives yet another analogy in a bid to reach God.
तृषा लागलिया जीवनातें ओढी
तैसी तुझी गोडी लागो या जिवा
Trusha is thirst. Thirst drives a man to seek water( jeevan). It is an inherent chemistry that pushes anyone to find water. Let my soul be similarly parched and seek you O Vitthala, pleads Dnyaaneshwara. In reality he already had that drive. Here he is merely laying down a blueprint for someone who wishes to seek salvation. If there is thirst, one would seek water. Similarly if you nurture love for God you will seek God.
The first analogy of the beetle being drawn to the fragrance in flowers is a representation of the behavior of our sense organs. These normally tend to be drawn to their respective objects.
These second analogy of thirst driving towards the search for water is a deeper urge which leans towards distress until the thirst is quenched. Thus it is of greater magnitude and immediate consequence and a representation of deeper need of the soul. The message is to turn body, mind and soul entirely towards the divine being.
बापरखुमादेविवरा विठ्ठलीं आवडी
गोडियेसी गोडी मिळोन गेली
These concluding lines carry deep truths. All beings, whether human or animals live for happiness. We seek happiness and pleasures at all times. Few understand that there is a fundamental difference between feeling happiness/ pleasure and knowing happiness. Ordinarily we enjoy things and through the enjoyment, we experience the feeling of being happy. Very few KNOW happiness. Give milk to a cat or a bone to a dog, or hay to a cow, they are happy. They are not wired to know or understand happiness by itself. They can just feel it. Give a pleasurable gift to your beloved human and they are happy. It is a learned behavior to react favorably to objects that bring a sense of joy to our mind. Pleasurable equates with desirable in most situations. We get drawn to these objects or experiences. We avoid objects that don’t bring such joy to us. But hardly anyone tries to “know” happiness.
The good news is that we humans are wired to know happiness. The bad news is that more often we don’t know we have this unique faculty and even if urged to use it, we don’t pay heed to it.
This is the fundamental difference between ordinary people and saints. Saints know happiness, others are constantly in pursuit of happiness. This is because the experience of happiness that they( ordinary people) have erroneously associated with objects or situations is transient. It comes and goes. It has to be chased constantly, only then they experience it. The saints have deliberately stopped chasing transient pleasures coming from sensory experiences and with the aid of such a clean-slate-like mind, they have experienced,recognized and positioned themselves in the seat of happiness. By itself( swayambhu), without the aid of external objects or situations. They have conclusively determined the eternal nature of this happiness and thus its obvious superiority to smaller pleasures.
Knowing happiness in its pure state and experiencing pleasures are mutually exclusive qualifications. One may feel happy through interaction with the world of objects yet not “know happiness”. One may “know” happiness and opt to occasionally experience objects of pleasure ( without compulsion) or stay away from them altogether.
Those who know happiness can identify it as essentially the same thing that others perceive indirectly and intermittently through objects.
Those who only can experience happiness through contact with objects are bound by their mortal state. Those who have found happiness in its absolute state are liberated. They know that the divine self is the seat of happiness. For them this divine self is the only “object” ( if one may say so) they genuinely care to own or experience. And in that case, the pleasure coming from an object and pure joy by itself merge into one.
The meeting point of Jiva( individual soul) and Shiva( universal soul), where duality merges with non duality, objective and subjective joy become one. To know happiness is to become happiness.
गोडियेसी गोडी मिळोन गेली
Dnyaaneshwara has attested to this experience.
If you delve deep enough into this truth you can recognize a beautiful convergence of psychology, science and spirituality. The mystery of existence reveals itself in this experience. The concept of Vitthal becomes clear. The experience of the mystics comes within our grasp. Non duality becomes a direct experience. The manifold qualities of this state become perceptible. There is happiness of course. There is peace. There is an enjoyable solitude and silence. There is truth in its sheerest form. There is an invincibility. There is undeniable, towering presence. There is timelessness and infinity of space and potential. Each quality is inseparable from the other. It’s an indivisible entity.
Curiously in the state of duality, i.e our normal way of living, not all experiences may be simultaneous. One may be happy but not experience solitude or peace or silence and certainly not timelessness or infinity.
Dnyaaneshwar’s pointers become all the more poignant once we reflect and come to experience their true essence. We must recognize that these words coming from an evolved saint are only pointers and we ought to use them as such. Pointers are not ultimate truths. Experience gained from pointers is the ultimate truth. Consider the first time a person is exposed to the taste of sugar. Until then he is simply fed information. Sugar comes from sources like sugarcane, it is usually in white crystals, it is water soluble, it tastes sweet etc etc..The name and appearance or description of sugar becomes irrelevant after one has experienced the taste of it.
Description and names are relevant and necessary only in the state of duality . The interesting fact is that only one who has experienced the state of non duality can understand the irrelevance of names and descriptions. And only such persons can point out bondage. A bound person cannot understand bondage. He must be willing to put trust in the words of a self realized man to get out of bondage and experience liberation. Dnyaaneshwar’s pointers( and those from other saints) are valuable for human evolution and achievement of our highest potential.
Saree is a lovely cotton silk in hues of yellow, a Maheshwari designed by Meera Mehta for the Rehwa Society.
Picture taken at Tambdi Surla, a 13th century Shiva temple in Goa close to its border with Karnataka. Incidentally Dnyaneshwar also lived in the 13th century.
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