संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 104 of 4582

Abhanga 104

Two corrections in one abhang. (1) Don't take credit for the rooster-sun pattern — the deity moves regardless of whether you crowed; the timing-coincidence is not causation; if you are sure your action brought the result, ask whether you were the rooster. (2) Don't despair when intermediaries block — gatekeepers, family, institutions, your own self-doubt can block surface access, but कळा सकळ अनंतीं is in the deity's hand. The truly hungry don't starve because of doormen.

When you're tempted to take credit for what was already going to happen — and you have to remember the rooster

When intermediaries seem to block access — and you have to remember the deity's arts cannot be obstructed by servants

When you've been imagining yourself responsible for the saint's arrival — and you have to remember the actual causality

The verse

काय दिनकरा । केला कोंबड्यानें खरा ॥१॥ कां हो ऐसा संत ठेवा । भार माझे माथां देवा ॥ध्रु.॥ आडविलें दासीं । तरि कां मरती उपवासी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे हातीं । कळा सकळ अनंतीं ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Did the rooster (with his crowing) make the sun rise? Why this saint-burden? Don't put it on my head, deity. When servants block (the door) — do (the truly hungry) die fasting? Tuka says: in (his) hand are all the arts of the Infinite.

मराठी: काय दिनकर (सूर्य) कोंबड्याने खरा केला (आणला)? असा संत-ठेवा का? भार माझ्या माथ्यावर नको, देवा. दासींनी आडवलं — पण भक्त उपवासाने मरतात का? तुकाराम म्हणतात — हातात अनंताच्या सकळ कळा.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
काय दिनकरा केला कोंबड्यानें खरा	"did the rooster make the sun real / arise?"
कां हो ऐसा संत ठेवा	"why this saint-burden?"
भार माझे माथां देवा	"(don't put) this burden on my head, deity"
आडविलें दासीं	"(when) blocked by servants"
तरि कां मरती उपवासी	"do they (the truly hungry) die fasting?"
हातीं कळा सकळ अनंतीं	"in (his) hand — all the arts of the Infinite"

What it means

Two precise images: (1) did the rooster make the sun rise? — the rooster's crowing coincides with sunrise but is not its cause; humans take credit for what was already happening. (2) if servants block the door, do the hungry starve? — the deity's grace finds its way around obstructive intermediaries; कळा सकळ अनंतीं — the arts of the Infinite are in the deity's hand, not the servants'. The closing teaching: don't claim what you didn't do; don't lose hope when intermediaries block. The deity's causality is not the servants' causality. [T]

For someone today

Two corrections in one abhang. (1) Don't take credit for the rooster-sun pattern — the deity moves regardless of whether you crowed; the timing-coincidence is not causation; if you are sure your action brought the result, ask whether you were the rooster. (2) Don't despair when intermediaries block — gatekeepers, family, institutions, your own self-doubt can block surface access, but कळा सकळ अनंतीं is in the deity's hand. The truly hungry don't starve because of doormen.

मराठी: एका ओवीत दोन सुधारणा. (१) कोंबडा-सूर्य pattern मध्ये credit घेऊ नका — तुम्ही आरवो किंवा नाही, देव हलतोच; coincidence causation नाही; तुम्हाला खात्री असेल की तुमच्या कृतीने परिणाम आणला — तर विचारा कोंबडा होतात का. (२) intermediary blocked केला तर hopeless होऊ नका — gatekeepers, कुटुंब, संस्था, स्वतःची self-doubt बाह्य access ला block करू शकते — पण कळा सकळ अनंतीं देवाच्या हातात. खरोखर भुकेले doorman मुळे उपाशी मरत नाहीत.

Where this applies

Tempted to take credit for the rooster-sun. Were you the rooster?
Intermediaries seem to block. कळा not in their hand.
Imagining yourself responsible for saint's arrival. Causality is upstream.