Abhanga 405

When devotion pulls at you and family duty holds you back, you are allowed to name the pull honestly and claim your right to follow it.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A daughter-protests-mother-keeping-her-home abhang. Six claims:

1. क्याला मज आयो वारितेसी घरा — खेळतों सोकरा नंदाचा मी — why, mother, stopping me at home? — I play with Sōkarā, Nanda's. The opening-protest: why are you stopping me, mother? — I play withSōkarā(a name / playmate) —Nanda's child (= Krishna). The daughter declares her playmate.

2. बहु दिसीं जाली यासीं मज भेटी — आतां वाटे तुटी न परावी — many days since meeting — now tuṭī feels — won't part. The long-separation claim: (it has been) many days since I met him; now feels — thetuṭī(break) cannot be made. Long-separation-fed longing.

3. कोवळें बोलतो मना आवरतें — डोळियाचें पातें ढापवेना — speaks gently, holds the mana — eyelids can't close. The Krishna-effect: He speaks gently — holds the mind; cannot close the eyelids (= cannot stop seeing-Him-in-imagination). Continuous mental-vision.

4. आजि सकळांसी आलें चोलुनियां — कां गो पाठी वांयां पुलविली — today, to all came cōlūnīyām — why on back uselessly pulavīlī? The complaint-of-being-piled-on: today everyone has come bustling out (cōlūnīyām); why have you uselessly piled (work / restraint) on my back? Others-going, daughter-piled-on.

5. तुमचें तें काय खोळंबलें काज — बल्या कां गो मज कोंडा घरीं — what kāj-kāma delayed for you? — why, bālyā, cooped at home? The escalating-protest: what work is delayed for your sake? — why,bālyā(mother / older-woman), are you keeping me cooped at home?

6. तुकयाचा धनी गोकुळनायक — सरा कांहीं एक बोलतों मी — Tuka's dhanī — Gokula-nāyaka — pass aside, I'm saying something. The closing-petition-and-naming: Tuka'sdhanī(master) —Gokula-nāyaka(the leader of Gokula); pass aside (mother), I'm saying something. The daughter has the deva-Gokula-master and asserts her right to go.

[T]

For someone today

This verse is a daughter's frank protest to her mother: why are you keeping me home when my playmate is waiting? She insists that too many days have already passed without seeing him, that his gentle voice will not let her mind rest or her eyes close, and that everyone else has been allowed to go out while she alone is held back for no real reason. She refuses to accept vague excuses, and finally she names her true bond: her real master is the Lord of Gokul himself, and that bond outranks any household restriction. It is a reminder that when devotion pulls at you, you are allowed to say so plainly and ask to be let go toward it.

मराठी: ही ओवी एका मुलीचं आईला थेट सांगणं आहे. मला घरात का अडवत आहेस, माझा सवंगडी माझी वाट पाहतोय, असं ती विचारते. ती म्हणते, खूप दिवस झाले त्याची भेट होऊन, आता ताटातूट सहन होत नाही; त्याचं मृदू बोलणं मन धरून ठेवतं, डोळे मिटतच नाहीत. सगळे बाहेर पडले असताना तिलाच उगाच घरात कोंडून ठेवलं जातंय, आणि हे अन्यायकारक वाटतं. शेवटी ती स्पष्टपणे सांगते, माझा खरा धनी गोकुळनायक आहे, आणि हे नातं घरच्या बंधनांपेक्षा मोठं आहे. भक्तीची ओढ मनात असेल, तर ती स्पष्टपणे मांडून वाट मोकळी मागण्याचा हा धडा आहे.

Where this applies

• Bhakti vs. family-restraint. Honest-conflict.
• Long-separation fuels the tuṭī. Time-deepens-longing.
• Gentle-speech holds; eyelids can't close. Continuous-darśana.
• Don't be piled-on while others go. Assert the right.
• Gokula-nāyakais Tuka'sdhanī. Deva-master-relation overrides.

Related verses

• 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 4495 — Tukaram tells how Krishna's mother and the cowherd families, absorbed in their own practic
• Abhanga 4497 — Tukaram describes a life so soaked in devotion that Krishna's presence fills every ordinar