Abhanga 13
The strength a bhakta wields is not their own. It is borrowed from the strongest, by being beloved of the strongest. Stand tall as a person who is loved by power, not as a person who has power.
The verse
दुजा ऐंसा कोण बळी आहे आतां । हरि या अनंता पासूनिया ॥१॥ बळियाच्या आम्ही जालों बळिवंता । करूं सर्व सत्ता सर्वांवरी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे आम्ही जिवाच्या उदारा । जालों प्रीतिकरा गोविंदासी ॥३॥
(Source: transliteral.org Sant Tukaram Gatha, abhang 13. Seventh in 0007-0015 gopī-narrative arc.)
Literal translation
English: Who is as strong now as this Hari, the Infinite One? We have become strong by being the Strong One's own; we wield total authority over all. Tuka says: by giving over our very life, we have become beloved of Govinda.
मराठी (आधुनिक): आता हरीसारखा — या अनंतापेक्षा — दुसरा बळवंत कोण आहे? बळवंताचे आम्ही बळवंत झालो; आम्ही सर्वांवर सत्ता गाजवू. तुकाराम म्हणतात — आम्ही जिवाची उदारता दाखवली, आणि गोविंदाचे प्रिय झालो.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| दुजा ऐंसा कोण बळी आहे आतां | "Who else is as strong as this, now?" |
| हरि या अनंता पासूनिया | "apart from this Hari, the Infinite One" |
| बळियाच्या आम्ही जालों बळिवंता | "we have become strong-of-the-strong" (बळिवंत = the powerful one; बळियाच्या... बळिवंता = the powerful-one's powerful-one, i.e. powerful by being the strong one's own) |
| करूं सर्व सत्ता सर्वांवरी | "we wield total authority over all" (सत्ता = sovereignty, authority) |
| जिवाच्या उदारा | "by the gift of our life / by giving over our life" (उदार = generous offering; जिवाच्या उदारा = by the offering of life-itself) |
| जालों प्रीतिकरा गोविंदासी | "we have become beloved of Govinda" (प्रीतिकर = the one who is loved / object of affection) |
What it means
This abhang names a derived form of strength. The question "दुजा ऐंसा कोण बळी आहे आतां" is rhetorical: no one is as strong as Hari. Verse 2's claim then is structural: by being Hari's own — बळियाच्या...बळिवंता — the bhakta becomes strong-by-association. The strength is real but it is not the bhakta's personal strength. It is the strength of being beloved of the strongest. The bhakta does not claim "I am strong"; she claims "I belong to the Strong One." [T]
Verse 3 names the price: "जिवाच्या उदारा" — by giving over our life. The belovedness of Govinda is purchased, in this register, by life-offering. This is not a death claim; it is the giving-over-of-life-as-property. The bhakta becomes Govinda's by no longer holding her life as her own. The strength that follows is the consequence of that yielding. [T]
The whole abhang is the empowered phase of the gopī-narrative — after deafness (0011) and identity-dissolution (0012), now comes the recognition that the bhakta who has given over her life is no longer weak. Far from it: she now wields सर्व सत्ता सर्वांवरी — total authority over all — by virtue of being the Strong One's beloved. [T]
For someone today
English: This abhang offers a precise distinction modern self-help culture often blurs. There is being-strong-from-yourself (the empowerment narrative: build your own strength, develop your resources, be your own hero) and there is being-strong-from-being-beloved-by-the-strong (the bhakti claim: the strength you wield is not yours; it is the strength of belonging to power, by having given over your life to it). Tukaram is naming the second. The two strengths feel different from the inside: self-strength is anxious because it depends on continuing to perform; borrowed strength is settled because it depends on the other party's continuing love.
When you find yourself in a confrontation, a public-stakes moment, or a long ordeal — Tukaram's question is not "are you strong enough?" but "whose strength are you standing in?" If it is your own, you will eventually run out. If you are standing in something larger than you, given over your stake to it, the strength does not run out because it is not yours to deplete. The work is not building strength; it is identifying what you have given your life over to — and standing in the strength of that thing.
The closing — जालों प्रीतिकरा गोविंदासी, we have become Govinda's beloved — is the secret. The strength comes not from servitude but from belovedness. The bhakta is not a subject of Govinda; she is prized by him. Borrowed strength is the strength of being prized.
मराठी: ही ओवी एक अचूक भेद देते जो आधुनिक self-help संस्कृती अनेकदा धूसर करते. स्वतःकडून-ताकदवान असणं (शक्तीकरणाचं कथन: स्वतःची ताकद उभारा, स्वतःचं स्रोत बना, स्वतःचा नायक व्हा) आणि बलवानाने-प्रिय-केल्याने ताकदवान असणं (भक्तीचा दावा: तुम्ही गाजवता ती ताकद तुमची नाही; ती शक्तीशी जुळून, जिवाची उदारता दिल्याने मिळालेली ताकद आहे). तुकाराम दुसरी सांगतायत. आतून दोन्ही वेगळ्या वाटतात: स्वतःची ताकद अस्वस्थ असते कारण तिला सतत performance करावा लागतो; उधारी ताकद स्थिर असते कारण ती दुसऱ्या बाजूच्या प्रेमावर अवलंबून असते.
जेव्हा तुम्ही एखाद्या संघर्षात, सार्वजनिक-stakes च्या क्षणात, किंवा दीर्घ कसोटीत असता — तुकाराम विचारत नाहीत "तुम्ही पुरेसे ताकदवान आहात का?" — ते विचारतात "कोणाच्या ताकदीत तुम्ही उभे आहात?" स्वतःची असेल, तर शेवटी ती संपेल. तुम्ही जर तुमच्याहून मोठ्या कशाला तरी जिवाची उदारता दिली असेल, त्यात उभे असाल, तर ती ताकद संपत नाही — कारण ती तुम्हाला संपवायची नाहीच. काम ताकद बांधण्याचं नाही; तुम्ही जिव कशाला दिला हे ओळखायचं — आणि त्या गोष्टीच्या ताकदीत उभं राहायचं.
शेवटची ओळ — जालों प्रीतिकरा गोविंदासी, आम्ही गोविंदाचे प्रिय झालो — हेच रहस्य आहे. ताकद सेवेतून येत नाही — प्रिय असल्यातून येते. भक्त गोविंदाची प्रजा नाही; ती त्याची प्रिय आहे. उधारी ताकद म्हणजे प्रिय असल्याची ताकद.
Where this applies
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When you have to walk into a confrontation and your own strength is not enough. Tukaram's prescription: do not pretend confidence; identify whose strength you are standing in. If your answer is "my own," you may not have the abhang's resource yet. If your answer is something larger — a tradition, a teacher, a beloved, the divine — stand in that, and let the abhang's claim do its work.
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When you've been beloved by someone strong and you have to learn to act from that belovedness rather than from your own resources. This is the prītikara practice — the practice of acting from the position of being-prized rather than being-self-sufficient. Most spiritual traditions have something like this; Tukaram puts it bluntly.
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When you find yourself unexpectedly strong in a difficult situation. Tukaram's diagnostic: don't claim credit for what wasn't yours. The strength that surprised you is probably borrowed — you were standing in something larger. Recognize the source so you can return to it next time.