Abhanga 310

Like a child who can't see a father's real strength or resources, you may not see how you're being protected, but that care removes danger and embraces you before you even ask.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A child-bhakta abhang. Three claims:

1. काय कळे बाळा — बाप सदैव दुबळा — what does the bāḷa know? — the bāpa always-seems dubaḷa. The bāḷa-bhakta perspective: from the child's-eye, the father always-seemsdubaḷa(disabled, weak) — because the child cannot see the father's resources. The child's perception of the father's-disability is the child's limitation, not the father's actuality. (Compare 302's self-state-determines-perception; here, the child's-state-determines-the-father-perception.)

2. आहे नाहीं हें न कळे — हातीं काय कोण्या वेळे — what is, what isn't — child doesn't know — what (is) in (the father's) hand at what time. The child does not have access tothe father's resources — what the father has, when, where. The child's epistemological-limit.

3. देखिलें तें दृष्टी — मागे घालूनियां मिठी — saw with dṛṣṭi — placing (it) behind, embraces. The protective-act. When the child sees (something potentially-dangerous), the father places that-thing behind (= out of the child's reach) and embraces the child. The child's danger is averted by the father's care. (Mage ghālavīyā — to put behind / remove from immediate-access; miṭhī ghālaṇē — to embrace.)

4. तुका म्हणे भावें — माझ्या मज समजावें — Tuka says: by bhāva — understand me on my behalf. The closing-petition. The bhakta cannot understand his own state from his own perspective; he asks the deva to understand-him-on-his-own-behalf, by bhāva. Mājhyā maja samajāvē — understand me on my own behalf — the bhakta cannot self-understand fully; the deva must understand-on-the-bhakta's-behalf.

[T]

For someone today

Like a small child who doesn't realize how capable his father really is, we often mistake God's silence or seeming absence for weakness or inability — that's just the limit of our own sight, not the truth about God. A child has no idea what resources the father has, or when he'll use them, and neither do we know how or when God will act on our behalf. But when the child notices something frightening, the father quietly moves it out of reach and gathers the child into his arms — that's the pattern of real protection, often happening before we even realize we needed it. Tukaram ends with a simple, honest prayer: since he can't fully understand or protect himself, he asks God to understand him through the bond of love and devotion between them.

मराठी: लहान मुलाला आपल्या वडिलांची खरी ताकद कळत नाही, तसंच आपणही देवाच्या शांततेला किंवा त्याच्या अनुपस्थितीला अशक्तपणा समजतो — हे फक्त आपल्या दृष्टीची मर्यादा आहे, देवाचं सत्य नाही. मुलाला वडिलांकडे काय संसाधनं आहेत, आणि ती तो केव्हा वापरेल हे माहीत नसतं, तसंच देव आपल्यासाठी कधी आणि कसं काम करेल हेही आपल्याला माहीत नसतं. पण जेव्हा मुलाला काहीतरी भीतीदायक दिसतं, तेव्हा वडील शांतपणे ते त्याच्या आवाक्याबाहेर काढतात आणि त्याला मिठीत घेतात — खऱ्या संरक्षणाचा हाच नमुना असतो, जो अनेकदा आपल्याला त्याची गरज आहे हे कळायच्या आधीच घडतो. तुकाराम शेवटी एक साधी, प्रामाणिक प्रार्थना करतात — स्वतःला पूर्णपणे समजून घेणं किंवा स्वतःचं रक्षण करणं आपल्याला जमत नाही, म्हणून ते देवाला विनवतात की त्यांच्यातील प्रेम आणि भक्तीच्या नात्यातून देवाने त्यांना समजून घ्यावं.

Where this applies

• You don't know the father's resources. Apparent-disability is your limit.
• What's in the hand, when — not your knowledge. Trust.
• Place-behind-and-embrace is the protective-mechanism. Your seeing is the cue.
• Ask deity to understand-you-by-bhāva. Self-understanding is limited.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2425 — Surrender every part of your life completely to what you trust most, and let go of the res
• Abhanga 2477 — Like a child too absorbed in play to notice how tired he is, let go and trust the parent c
• Abhanga 2484 — Real devotion can include anger and demand, not just sweetness, because a devotee who trul
• Abhanga 2540 — Even the smallest, most helpless creature that cries out to God in danger is sheltered and