Abhanga 298
Refusing to surrender to God is usually not defiance but simple forgetting, and time is quietly draining your strength while you delay turning back.
The verse
कोणें तुझा सांग केला अंगीकार । निश्चिति त्वां थोर मानियेली ॥१॥ कोणें ऐसा तुज उपदेश केला । नको या विठ्ठला शरण जाऊं ॥ध्रु.॥ तेव्हां तुज कोण घालील पाठीसी । घासील भूमीसी वदन यम ॥२॥ कां रे नागवसी आयुष्य खातो काळ । दिसेंदिस बळ क्षीण होतें ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे यासि सांगा कोणी तरी । विसरला हरी मायबाप ॥४॥
Literal translation
Who took your angīkāra sānga? You took the niścīti as great. Who instructed you (in this manner) — don't go saraṇa to Viṭṭhal? Then who will put-you-behind? Yama will grind your face on the bhūmi. Why are you naked? — kāḷa eats āyuṣya — day by day, strength weakens. Tuka says: someone tell him — he forgot Hari, the māy-bāp.
मराठी: कोणें तुझा सांग केला अंगीकार — निश्चिति त्वां थोर मानियेली. कोणें ऐसा तुज उपदेश केला — नको या विठ्ठला शरण जाऊं. तेव्हां तुज कोण घालील पाठीसी — घासील भूमीसी वदन यम. कां रे नागवसी — आयुष्य खातो काळ — दिसेंदिस बळ क्षीण होतें. तुकाराम म्हणतात — यासि सांगा कोणी तरी — विसरला हरी मायबाप.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| कोणें तुझा सांग केला अंगीकार | "who took yourangīkāra(responsibility-acceptance) sānga (full)?" |
| निश्चिति त्वां थोर मानियेली | "you took theniścīti(settled-conviction) as great" |
| कोणें ऐसा तुज उपदेश केला | "who instructed you (in this manner)" |
| नको या विठ्ठला शरण जाऊं | "don't gosaraṇato Viṭṭhal" |
| तेव्हां तुज कोण घालील पाठीसी | "then who willpāṭhīsī(put behind / protect) you" |
| घासील भूमीसी वदन यम | "yama willgrind your vadana (face) on the bhūmi" |
| कां रे नागवसी | "why are younāgavasī(naked / dispossessed)" |
| आयुष्य खातो काळ | "kāḷa eatsāyuṣya" |
| दिसेंदिस बळ क्षीण होतें | "day by day,baḷaweakens" |
| यासि सांगा कोणी तरी विसरला हरी मायबाप | "someone tell him — he forgot Hari, themāy-bāp" |
What it means
A direct-address-to-the-un-saraṇa-person abhang. Four claims:
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कोणें तुझा सांग केला अंगीकार — निश्चिति त्वां थोर मानियेली — who took your angīkāra sānga? You took the niścīti as great. The opening question. Who hastaken responsibilityfor you,complete? You havesettled it (niścīti) as great— butwho is the actual responsibility-taker?
-
कोणें ऐसा तुज उपदेश केला — नको या विठ्ठला शरण जाऊं — who instructed you not to go saraṇa to Viṭṭhal? The direct-question. What advisor told you to not-go-saraṇa-to-Viṭṭhal? This is sarcastic-direct: the un-saraṇa person has been instructed by their own avoidance, by social-pressure, by jāṇa-paṇa — but the result is the not-saraṇa state.
-
तेव्हां तुज कोण घालील पाठीसी — घासील भूमीसी वदन यम — then who will put you behind / protect you? Yama will grind your face on the bhūmi. The consequence. No saraṇa = no pāṭhī-protection. When yama arrives, no-one is there to put you behind; yama will grind your face on the ground. (Pāṭhī ghālaṇē — to put behind — to protect, defend, place-as-shelter.)
-
कां रे नागवसी — आयुष्य खातो काळ — दिसेंदिस बळ क्षीण होतें — why are you naked? — kāḷa eats āyuṣya — day by day strength weakens. The universal-fact. Kāḷa (time / death) is eating your āyuṣya day-by-day; strength is weakening; you are nāgavasī (naked, dispossessed). Why? — because you have no saraṇa to protect you from kāḷa.
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तुका म्हणे यासि सांगा कोणी तरी — विसरला हरी मायबाप — Tuka says: someone tell him — he forgot Hari the māy-bāp. The closing-diagnosis. The un-saraṇa personforgot Hari the māy-bāp — forgot the mother-father. Someone needs to tell him; he cannot see this himself.
[T]
For someone today
Tukaram asks pointedly: who has actually taken responsibility for your life, that you feel so settled and secure? And who convinced you it's fine to avoid turning to God? When death finally comes for you, no one will be standing behind you to protect you — time is quietly eating away at your years, and your strength is fading day by day, whether you notice it or not. This isn't really defiance, Tukaram says; it's forgetting. Someone needs to remind such a person that they have simply forgotten God, who has always been like a mother and father to them.
मराठी: तुकाराम सरळ विचारतात — तुझ्या आयुष्याची जबाबदारी खरंच कोणी घेतली आहे, की तू इतका निश्चिंत आणि सुरक्षित वाटतोस? आणि देवाला शरण न जाण्याचा सल्ला तुला कोणी दिला? जेव्हा शेवटी मृत्यू येईल, तेव्हा तुझ्या पाठीशी कोणीही उभं राहणार नाही — काळ रोज तुझं आयुष्य खात आहे, आणि तुझी शक्ती दिवसेंदिवस क्षीण होत आहे, तुला कळो न कळो. तुकाराम म्हणतात, हे खरं तर विरोध नाही — हे केवळ विसरणं आहे. अशा माणसाला कोणीतरी आठवण करून द्यायला हवी की त्याने आई-वडिलांसारख्या असलेल्या देवालाच विसरलं आहे.
Where this applies
- Check who took your angīkāra. Who is the actual responsibility-taker?
- Source of your not-saraṇa is rarely a real adviser. Jāṇa-paṇa, social-pressure, avoidance, pride.
- No saraṇa = no protection from yama / kāḷa. Universal-fact.
- Un-saraṇa-person forgot Hari the māy-bāp. Forgetting, not rejection.