Abhanga 153
English: Hari, you have tired Shesha's thousand mouths.
The verse
सहस्र मुखावरी हरी । शेष शिणविलें ॥१॥ चेंडुवासवें घातली उडी । नाथिला काळिया देऊनि बुडी ॥२॥ अशुद्ध पीतां करुणा नाहीं । तुवां माउशी ही मारियेली ॥३॥ रावणाचें घर बुडविलें सारें । त्याचीं रांडापोरें मारियेलीं ॥४॥ जाणो तो ठावा आहेसि आम्हां । तुवां आपुला मामा मारियेला ॥५॥ याशीं खेळतां नाश थोरू । तुकयास्वामी सारंगधरू ॥६॥
Literal translation
English: Hari, you have tired Shesha's thousand mouths. With the ball you jumped (into Yamuna) — gave a dive that bound Kaliya. Drinking impure-blood — no compassion — you killed (Putana) the maternal-aunt. You destroyed all of Ravana's house — killed his women and children. We know what you are — you killed your own (maternal) uncle (Kamsa). Playing with you is great destruction. Tuka's master — Sarangadhara.
मराठी: हरी, तू सहस्र मुखांवरच्या शेषाला शिणवलंस. चेंडूसवें उडी मारली — काळिय्याला बुडी देऊन बांधलंस. अशुद्ध (रक्त) पिऊन — करुणा नाही — तू माउसीला (पूतनेला) मारलंस. रावणाचं घर पूर्ण बुडवलंस — त्याची रांडा-पोरं मारलीस. तू कोण आहेस आम्हाला माहीत — तू स्वतःचा मामा (कंस) मारलास. तुझ्याशी खेळणं म्हणजे थोरू नाश. तुकाराम-स्वामी सारंगधर.
What it means
A deity-also-destroys abhang. Tukaram catalogues Krishna's classical destructive acts:
- Shesha — the cosmic serpent on whose thousand-headed body Vishnu reclines; Tukaram says Hari has tired even him.
- Kaliya — the Yamuna's poisonous serpent; Krishna jumped onto his hood and danced him into submission.
- Putana — the demon-nurse who tried to poison the infant Krishna with her milk; he sucked her life out.
- Ravana's household — destroyed by Rama (who is Vishnu); women and children included.
- Kamsa — Krishna's maternal-uncle, who tried to kill him at birth and was killed by Krishna.
The structural claim: याशीं खेळतां नाश थोरू — playing with him is great destruction. The deity is not safe; intimacy with him includes proximity to his destructive operations. [T] [Tradition]
For someone today
This abhang refuses the deity-is-only-protective sentimentality. Krishna's biography includes significant destruction — and Tukaram does not hide it. The application: when the deity becomes operative in your life, the destructive aspect may also operate. Things you were attached to may be struck down. People around you may be affected. The relationship with the divine is not safe-domesticity; it is full-engagement, including the destruction-of-what-must-go.
Don't seek deity-without-destruction — that deity is not the bhakti deity. The honest acceptance is that playing with him is great destruction — and that is what we have signed up for.
मराठी: ही ओवी देव-only-protective sentimentality नाकारते. कृष्णाच्या biography मध्ये significant destruction आहे — आणि तुकाराम ते लपवत नाहीत. lागू: देव तुमच्या जीवनात operative होतो — विनाशकारी aspect पण operate करू शकतं. तुम्ही attached होतात त्या गोष्टी struck-down होऊ शकतात. आसपासचे लोक प्रभावित होऊ शकतात. देवाशी नातं safe-domesticity नाही — full-engagement आहे — destruction-of-what-must-go समाविष्ट.
देव-without-destruction शोधू नका — तो bhakti देव नाही. प्रामाणिक स्वीकार: त्याच्याशी खेळणं म्हणजे थोरू नाश — आणि त्यासाठीच आम्ही signed up केलं आहे.
Where this applies
- Imagining deity as only-protective. Catalog says otherwise.
- Playing-with-the-deity has great cost. Honor that.
- Someone you love has been struck. Don't comfort the destruction away.