संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 155 of 4582

Abhanga 155

This abhang names the take-the-weight dimension of real engagement. The deity (or any genuine teacher / beloved / practice) doesn't ask only for your attention — they ask for your weight. Take it; the take-up dissolves the I-and-you binary. The back-door-leak (खालील द्वार) — the place where your devotion / commitment / attention has been secretly draining — gets closed in the engagement. The cost: घरा जाऊ देत नाही — won't let you go home. The home you came from is no longer accessible in the previous form. The engagement has a no-going-back property.

When you've been refusing to take the weight of the practice and you have to recognize the game's invitation

When I-and-you is dissolving in real engagement — and you have to recognize the structural ego-death

When no-going-home is the post-engagement state — and you have to honor that this is what you signed for

The verse

मशीं पोरा घे रे बार । तुझें बुजीन खालील द्वार ॥१॥ पोरा हमामा रे हमामा रे ॥ध्रु.॥ मशीं हमामा तूं घालीं । पोरा वरी सांभाळीं खालीं ॥२॥ तरी च मशीं बोल । पोरा जिव्हाळ्याची ओल ॥३॥ मशीं घेतां भास । जीवा मीतूंपणा नास ॥४॥ मज सवें खरा । पण जाऊं नेदी घरा ॥५॥ आमुचिये रंगीं । दुजें तगेना ये संगीं ॥६॥ तुक्यासवें भास । हरी जीवा करी नास ॥७॥

Literal translation

English: Take my weight, kid — I'll close your back-door. Hamāmā, hamāmā, hamāmā, kid! Pile on me, kid — keep yourself above; manage below. Then speak with me, kid — the warm-juice of affection. Taking on me — the I-and-you-ness of the soul is destroyed. With me, true-one — it won't let (you) go home. In our color, no other can keep up. Tuka says: with the bhakta — Hari does the destruction of soul (= the small-soul).

मराठी: मला, पोरा, घे रे बार (वजन / भार) — तुझं खालचं द्वार बुजवीन. पोरा, हमामा रे हमामा रे! मला हमामा तू घाल — पोरा वर सांभाळ, खाली. तरीच मला बोल — पोरा, जिव्हाळ्याची ओल. मला घेऊन भास — जीवाचा मी-तूंपणा नाश. माझ्यासोबत खरा — पण घरा जाऊ देत नाही. आमच्या रंगात — दुसरं या संगात तगत नाही. तुकयासवें भास — हरी जिवाचा नाश करी.

What it means

A hamāmā abhang. Hamāmā is a Marathi children's pile-on game where one child stands as the base and others pile on his back. The game requires accepting weight. Tukaram makes this the metaphor: the bhakti relationship is take-the-weight. The deity says — take my weight, kid; I'll close your bottom-leak (back-door). The pile-on dissolves the I-and-you (मीतूंपणा) — selfhood collapses under the weight-with-the-other. The closing claim — आमुचिये रंगीं दुजें तगेना ये संगीं — in our color, no other can keep up — names the exclusivity of the engaged-state. [T]

For someone today

This abhang names the take-the-weight dimension of real engagement. The deity (or any genuine teacher / beloved / practice) doesn't ask only for your attention — they ask for your weight. Take it; the take-up dissolves the I-and-you binary. The back-door-leak (खालील द्वार) — the place where your devotion / commitment / attention has been secretly draining — gets closed in the engagement. The cost: घरा जाऊ देत नाही — won't let you go home. The home you came from is no longer accessible in the previous form. The engagement has a no-going-back property.

मराठी: ही ओवी real engagement च्या weight-घेणाऱ्या dimension नाव सांगते. देव (किंवा कुठलाही genuine teacher / beloved / practice) फक्त तुमचं लक्ष मागत नाही — तुमचं weight मागतो. घ्या; take-up I-and-you binary विरघळवतो. खालचं द्वार — जिथून तुमची भक्ती / commitment / लक्ष गुपचूप झिरपत होतं — engagement मध्ये बंद होतं. किंमत: घरा जाऊ देत नाही — आधीच्या form मध्ये home available नाही. engagement ला no-going-back property आहे.

Where this applies

Refusing to take the weight. Recognize the invitation.
I-and-you dissolving in engagement. Recognize the ego-death.
No-going-home post-engagement. Honor what you signed for.