Abhanga 237

When someone you love dives into real danger by their own choice, useless panic and overthinking only cause you to lose your grip on what is still in your hands, so hold steady instead.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

The opening abhang of the Kāliya-mardana leelā (Bhāgavata 10.16). Krishna jumps from the kalamba tree into the Yamuna pool where the giant serpent Kāliya lives, intending to subdue him. The bhakta-band raises the bombe (alarm). Three movements:

1. वरता वेंघोनि घातली उडी — कळंबाबुडीं यमुनेसी — climbing up, jumped down — under the kalamba into the Yamuna. The leelā-event: Krishna climbs the kalamba and jumps into the river. The leelā is willed by Krishna himself; he is not pushed.

2. हरि बुडाला बोंब घाला — घरचीं त्यांला ठावा नाहीं — Hari has drowned — raise the alarm-call! — his home people don't know. The bhakta-band's first-response: raise the alarm-call. His home-people don't know (Yashodā etc. are unaware). The crisis is local-to-the-band.

3. भवनदीचा न कळे पार — काळिया माजी थोर विखार — the bhava-river — limit unknown; in the Kāliya — the great venom. The cosmic-stake. The Yamuna is also the bhava-nadī (river-of-becoming, samsara); its limits are unknown; the Kāliya inside has great venom. The leelā is not just a child's-play; it is a cosmic-confrontation with the venom-of-becoming.

4. तुका म्हणे काय वाउग्या हाका — हातींचा गमावुनियां थिंका — Tuka says: what useless shouts? — don't lose what's-in-hand by thinkā. The anti-panic warning. Useless shouts don't help; thinkā (over-thinking, futile-spitting) makes you lose what is in your hand. Hold what is in hand; don't dissipate it in panic-shouting. (Compare 204's Ananta-jāṇasī-tē-karāvē — entrustment-mode in crisis.)

[T]

For someone today

This verse tells the story of Krishna climbing a tree and jumping into the Yamuna to confront the venomous serpent Kaliya, and the panic that follows among his companions who cry out that he has drowned while his own family back home has no idea what's happening. Tukaram reminds us that Krishna chose this dive himself, it wasn't forced on him, and that the river he entered stands for the much deeper, harder to measure river of everyday struggle, with real danger, real venom, inside it. But then comes the practical turn: useless shouting and panicked overthinking don't help anyone, and they can actually cause you to lose your grip on what you still have in your hands. When someone you love has gone into real danger or a hard unknown, the wiser response is steady, focused action, not noise.

मराठी: या ओवीत कृष्ण झाडावर चढून यमुनेत विषारी काळिया नागाशी सामना करायला उडी घेतो, आणि त्याचे सोबती हरि बुडाला अशी बोंब मारतात, तर घरच्यांना याची काहीच कल्पना नसते. तुकाराम आठवण करून देतात की ही उडी कृष्णाने स्वतःहून निवडली होती, कुणी त्याच्यावर लादली नव्हती, आणि तो नदीत उतरला ते प्रतीक आहे रोजच्या आयुष्यातल्या त्या खोल, न मोजता येणाऱ्या भवनदीचं, ज्यात खरा धोका, खरं विष असतं. पण मग व्यावहारिक वळण येतं: निरर्थक बोंब मारणं आणि घाबरून सारखा विचार करत राहणं यातून काहीच साध्य होत नाही, उलट त्यामुळे हातात जे आहे तेही निसटून जाऊ शकतं. जेव्हा तुमचं कुणी प्रिय माणूस खऱ्या धोक्यात किंवा कठीण अनोळखी परिस्थितीत असतं, तेव्हा शहाणपणाचं उत्तर म्हणजे शांत, केंद्रित कृती, आरडाओरडा नाही.

Where this applies

• Loved-one chose the leap. Don't pretend forced.
• Alert the band, not outsiders. होम-people don't know.
• Cosmic-stake — recognize gravity. Don't dismiss.
• Hold what's in hand. Don't lose by useless-shouting / over-thinking.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2481 — Pandharpur surpasses even the greatest pilgrimage cities because people there set aside pr
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 4483 — Tukaram tells of the gopis whose all-consuming secret longing for Krishna, hidden beneath