Abhanga 236

In this verse it is Hari who comes pleading, not the devotee, and he says their companionship goes back a long way, that they are not new friends who need to introduce themselves again. Many important and high status people call out to him, but he doesn't favor them for their status. What he responds to is the person of simple faith, the bhavika, whose love is great, and Tukaram says the right response to that kind of love is to embrace it with your whole being. If you have had a long, real relationship with the divine in your life, you don't need to keep re-proving it, and you don't need to compete with people who seem more important or impressive to be loved.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A Hari-pleads-and-claims-old-attachment abhang. Four claims:

1. काकुलती येतो हरी — Hari comes pleading-with-grief. The reversal of the standard frame: the bhakta usually pleads; here, Hari pleads. Kākulatī — the pleading-tone, the supplicating-mode — is Hari's mode here. (Compare 220's master-runs-without-laziness; 223's deva runs close-behind.)

2. तुमची मज लागली सवे — ठायींचे नवे नव्हों गडी — your companionship has come on me — we are not new-comrades at this place. Hari claims long-attachment. The bhakta is not new; the attachment is established. Ṭhāyīmce, of-the-place — long-tenure here.

3. आणीक बोलाविती फार — बहु थोर नावडती — many others call (me) much; the great-ones don't favor (me). The invitation-asymmetry: many thōra (great-ones, high-status, important) call Hari — but Hari doesn't favor their company. (Compare 222: brahman plays among gopāls; 211: deity in play-mode with gopālas, not in Amarāvatī.)

4. भाविकें त्यांची आवडी मोठी — मिठी घाली जिवें — the bhāvika has great love — embrace with the jīva. The bhāvika-loves-greatly claim. Hari favors the bhāvika (faith-having one) over the thōra — and the bhāvika's response is miṭhī ghālī jīvēm — embrace with the jīva (life). The jīva-embrace — embracing-with-the-life-itself — is the bhāvika's mode. [T]

For someone today

In this verse it is Hari who comes pleading, not the devotee, and he says their companionship goes back a long way, that they are not new friends who need to introduce themselves again. Many important and high status people call out to him, but he doesn't favor them for their status. What he responds to is the person of simple faith, the bhavika, whose love is great, and Tukaram says the right response to that kind of love is to embrace it with your whole being. If you have had a long, real relationship with the divine in your life, you don't need to keep re-proving it, and you don't need to compete with people who seem more important or impressive to be loved.

मराठी: या ओवीत हरी स्वतः याचना करत येतो, भक्त नाही, आणि तो म्हणतो की आपली सोबत खूप जुनी आहे, आपण नव्याने ओळख करून देण्याइतके नवखे मित्र नाही आहोत. अनेक मोठे, प्रतिष्ठित लोक त्याला हाक मारतात, पण तो त्यांच्या मोठेपणामुळे त्यांना प्राधान्य देत नाही. साध्या श्रद्धेच्या माणसाला, भाविकाला तो प्रतिसाद देतो, ज्याचं प्रेम मोठं असतं, आणि तुकाराम म्हणतात की अशा प्रेमाला योग्य उत्तर म्हणजे संपूर्ण जिवाने मिठी घालणं. जर तुमचं देवाशी खरं, जुनं नातं असेल, तर ते पुन्हा पुन्हा सिद्ध करायची गरज नाही, आणि प्रेम मिळवण्यासाठी जास्त मोठ्या किंवा प्रतिष्ठित वाटणाऱ्या लोकांशी स्पर्धा करायचीही गरज नाही.

Where this applies

• Deity may come pleading. Recognize this register.
• Long-attachment recognized. Don't re-establish each time.
• Great-ones get invitation, not heart. Status doesn't favor.
• Jīva-embrace, not partial. Whole-life response.

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