Abhanga 233

Closeness to the divine does not require worthiness or careful calculation, only an honest, unguarded, held nothing back kind of devotion that the simple hearted can offer.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A complex coming-with-Hari with all-honesty abhang. Five movements:

1. तुजसवें येतों हरी — आम्हां लाज नाहीं तरी — I come with you, Hari — we have no shame anyway. The honest-opening. I'm coming with you — and we have no shame anyway (so the with-Hari coming is not adding shame; we are already shameless). The no-shame register is honest, not boastful.

2. उचलिला गिरी — चांग तईं वांचलों — चांग दैवें यमुनेसी वांचलों बुडतां — you lifted Govardhan — by good fortune we lived; by good fortune we survived drowning in the Yamuna. The biographical reminders: the bhakta-band remembers the Govardhan-uplift leelā and the Yamuna-drowning rescue (Krishna's leelās 10.25 and 10.16 in the Bhāgavata). The good-fortune (chānga daivē) of the past-rescues is acknowledged.

3. निलाजिरीं आम्ही — नाहीं भय धाक या अनंता — we are shameless — no fear, no dhāka at this Ananta. The post-rescue claim: having been rescued in the past, no fear and no awe at this Ananta. The intimacy has eliminated the dhāka. (Compare the familiar-with-cosmic register.)

4. खातों आगी माती — आतां पुरे हा सांगाती — we eat fire-and-mud — now enough of this companionship. The honest-tired-register. We have been eating fire-and-mud (the bhakta's hard-life) — enough of this companionship. This is startling: the bhakta is protesting the companionship-itself. (Reading: enough of being-with-Krishna in this fire-and-mud-eating mode; give us another mode.)

5. उरी नाहीं तुजसवें — शाहाणे या भावें दुरी — छंद भोळियां सवें — no remainder with you; the wise stay distant at this bhāva; the innocents come close with the chand. The closing structural-claim. No remainder (urī nāhīm) — there's nothing left in reserve; the bhakta has given everything. And the wise stay distant at this bhāva — the wise (śāhāṇē — the calculating, the rational, the careful) do not come this close; they keep distance. The innocents (bhōḷe) come close with the chand (passion-rhythm). The bhakti-relation is for the bhōḷe, not the śāhāṇē. (Compare 222: the all-skilled begs for innocence; 196: even unknowingly.)

[T]

For someone today

Here Tukaram comes to Krishna without any shame, not because he has earned the right to be close, but simply because he has nothing left to lose. He remembers the old rescues, Krishna lifting Govardhan and pulling him out of the Yamuna, with gratitude, not as a guarantee owed to him again. He also admits he is honestly tired, telling Krishna plainly that this hard, fire-and-mud life of devotion has been enough for now, and that honest complaint is allowed inside the relationship, not a betrayal of it. He holds nothing back for himself, and he notices that careful, calculating people keep their distance from this kind of closeness, while it is the simple-hearted, unguarded ones who actually come near with real passion.

मराठी: इथे तुकाराम कोणतीही लाज न बाळगता कृष्णाजवळ येतात, ते जवळ येण्याचा हक्क कमावला म्हणून नाही, तर आता गमावण्यासारखं काहीच उरलेलं नाही म्हणून. गोवर्धन उचलणं आणि यमुनेतून वाचवणं यासारख्या जुन्या प्रसंगांची ते कृतज्ञतेने आठवण करतात, पुन्हा तसंच घडावं असा हक्क म्हणून नाही. ते हेही प्रामाणिकपणे सांगतात की हा कष्टाचा, आगी-मातीचा भक्तीमार्ग आता पुरे झाला आहे, आणि असा प्रामाणिक तक्रारीचा सूर या नात्यात मान्य आहे, तो नातं तोडणारा नाही. ते स्वतःसाठी काहीही राखून ठेवत नाहीत, आणि हेही पाहतात की चतुर, गणित करणारे लोक अशा जवळिकीपासून दूर राहतात, तर भोळे, निरागस लोकच खऱ्या ओढीने जवळ येतात.

Where this applies

• Coming-with despite no-shame. Worthiness is not the gate.
• Honest-tired protest allowed. Part of the relation.
• Wise stay distant; innocents come close. Choose the bhōḷe-stance.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374 — Rather than scattering devotion among many lesser deities who demand offerings, Tukaram sa
• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is