Abhanga 424
When your usual abilities and support fall away, notice what still holds inside you and trust that when everything else is gone, that deeper support remains.
The verse
पाय डोळे म्हणतां माझे । तींहीं कैसा मोकलिलों । परदेशीं नाहीं कोणी । अंध पांगुळ जालों ॥१॥ आतां माझी करीं चिंता । दान देई भगवंता । पाठीं पोटीं नाहीं कोणी । निरवीं सज्जन संता ॥ध्रु.॥ कान तरी ऐकती । बैसलों संधिभागीं । तुज धरूनि चित्तीं ॥२॥ लक्ष चौर्यांशी गांव । धरूनि राहिलों गा । हा चि वसता ठाव ॥३॥ म्हणउनि मारीं हाका । सोयी पावें पुण्यवंता । लागली भूक थोरी । तूं चि कृपाळू दाता ॥४॥ निष्काम जालों देवा । होतें माझे कपाळीं । तुका म्हणे तूं चि आतां । माझा सर्वस्वें बळी ॥५॥
Literal translation
Saying my-feet, my-eyes — they abandoned me — in paradēśa — no one — amdha-pānguḷa I became. Do my cintā now — give dāna, bhagavanta — no one in pāṭhī-pōṭī — entrust to sajjana-samta. Ear hears — sat at samdhi-bhāgī — holding You in citta. 84-lakh gāva — staying — this the inhabited ṭhāva. Therefore I make hākā — come quickly puṇyavanta — great hunger — You kṛpāḷu dātā. Niṣkāma I became, deva — was in my kapāḷa. Tuka says: You alone now — my baḷī of sarvasvē.
मराठी: पाय डोळे म्हणतां माझे — तींहीं कैसा मोकलिलों — परदेशीं नाहीं कोणी अंध पांगुळ जालों. आतां माझी करीं चिंता दान देई भगवंता — पाठीं पोटीं नाहीं कोणी निरवीं सज्जन संता. कान तरी ऐकती बैसलों संधिभागीं तुज धरूनि चित्तीं. लक्ष चौर्यांशी गांव धरूनि राहिलों — हा चि वसता ठाव. म्हणउनि मारीं हाका — सोयी पावें पुण्यवंता — लागली भूक थोरी तूं चि कृपाळू दाता. तुकाराम म्हणतां — निष्काम जालों देवा होतें माझे कपाळीं — तूं चि आतां माझा सर्वस्वें बळी.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पाय डोळे म्हणतां माझे | "saying my-feet, my-eyes" |
| तींहीं कैसा मोकलिलों | "they — abandoned me" |
| परदेशीं नाहीं कोणी अंध पांगुळ जालों | "in paradēśa — no one — amdha-pānguḷa I became" |
| आतां माझी करीं चिंता दान देई भगवंता | "do my cintā now — give dāna, bhagavanta" |
| पाठीं पोटीं नाहीं कोणी निरवीं सज्जन संता | "no one in pāṭhī-pōṭī — entrust to sajjana-samta" |
| कान तरी ऐकती बैसलों संधिभागीं | "ear hears — sat at samdhi-bhāgī" |
| तुज धरूनि चित्तीं | "holding You in citta" |
| लक्ष चौर्यांशी गांव धरूनि राहिलों गा | "84-lakh gāva — staying" |
| हा चि वसता ठाव | "this is the inhabited ṭhāva" |
| म्हणउनि मारीं हाका | "therefore I make hākā" |
| सोयी पावें पुण्यवंता | "come quickly, puṇyavanta" |
| लागली भूक थोरी तूं चि कृपाळू दाता | "great hunger — You — kṛpāḷu dātā" |
| निष्काम जालों देवा होतें माझे कपाळीं | "niṣkāma I became — was in my kapāḷa" |
| तूं चि आतां माझा सर्वस्वें बळी | "You alone — my baḷī of sarvasvē" |
What it means
A blind-cripple-bhakta-deva-only-baḷī abhang. Six claims:
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पाय डोळे म्हणतां माझे — तींहीं कैसा मोकलिलों — परदेशीं नाहीं कोणी अंध पांगुळ जालों — saying my-feet, my-eyes — they abandoned me — in paradēśa, no one — amdha-pānguḷa. The opening-confession: themy-feet, my-eyesI called mine — they havemōkalilōm(abandoned); in theparadēśa(foreign-country, alienated-state) no one (helps); I have becomeamdha-pānguḷa(blind-cripple). Total bodily-failure.
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आतां माझी करीं चिंता — दान देई भगवंता — पाठीं पोटीं नाहीं कोणी — निरवीं सज्जन संता — do my cintā — give dāna, bhagavanta — no one in pāṭhī-pōṭī — entrust to sajjana-samta. The petition: do my care,bhagavanta; no one inpāṭhī-pōṭī(family / belly-back); entrust me to thesajjana-samta.Petition the deva to entrust the bhakta to the saints.
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कान तरी ऐकती — बैसलों संधिभागीं — तुज धरूनि चित्तीं — ear hears — sat at samdhi-bhāgī — holding You in citta. The one-faculty-still-active-claim: the ear still hears; I sat at thesamdhi-bhāgī(juncture); holding You incitta. Even in bodily-failure, the ear-and-citta hold.
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लक्ष चौर्यांशी गांव — धरूनि राहिलों गा — हा चि वसता ठाव — 84-lakh gāva — I have stayed — this the inhabited ṭhāva. The eighty-four-lakh-yonis claim: the 84-lakh gāva (= 84-lakh yonis, the cycle of births) — I have stayed (in); this is the inhabited place. Samsāra is the long-stayed inhabited place.
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म्हणउनि मारीं हाका — सोयी पावें पुण्यवंता — लागली भूक थोरी — तूं चि कृपाळू दाता — therefore I make hākā — come quickly puṇyavanta — great hunger — You kṛpāḷu dātā. The call-claim: therefore I make thehākā(call); come quickly,puṇyavanta; great hunger has come; You are thekṛpāḷu dātā(compassionate-giver).
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तुका म्हणे निष्काम जालों देवा — होतें माझे कपाळीं — तूं चि आतां माझा सर्वस्वें बळी — Tuka says: niṣkāma I became, deva — was on my kapāḷa — You alone now — my baḷī of sarvasvē. The closing-claim: I have becomeniṣkāma(without-desire), deva; that was in mykapāḷa(fate); You alone now — mybaḷī(might / refuge) ofsarvasvē(everything-belonging). Niṣkāma-state arrived; deva is the only refuge.
[T]
For someone today
Tukaram admits that the feet and eyes he once called his own have failed him, leaving him like a stranger in a foreign land, blind and crippled with no one to lean on. He asks God directly to take care of him, since no family remains to fall back on, and asks that he be entrusted instead to the company of good people. Yet even in this collapse, he notices that one thing still works, his ear still hears, and his mind still holds on to God at the crossroads of his life. He names ordinary worldly existence itself as the long-inhabited town he has lived in for ages, and says his hunger for God has grown enormous, met only by God's own generosity. In the end he calls this stripped-down state freedom from craving, and says that when everything else has fallen away, God alone remains as his one true support.
मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की एकेकाळी जे पाय आणि डोळे आपले म्हणत होते तेच आता साथ सोडून गेले आहेत, आणि ते जणू परक्या मुलखात, आंधळे-पांगळे होऊन, कोणाचाही आधार नसलेले राहिले आहेत. ते देवाला थेट विनवतात की माझी काळजी घ्या, कारण मागे आधार द्यायला घरचे कोणी उरलेले नाही, आणि माझी जबाबदारी सज्जन संतांच्या हाती सोपवा. तरीही या पडझडीतही त्यांना जाणवते की एक गोष्ट अजूनही टिकून आहे — कान अजून ऐकतो, आणि मन अजूनही जीवनाच्या वळणावर देवाला धरून आहे. ते संसारालाच एक असे दीर्घकाळ वस्तीला असलेले गाव म्हणतात ज्यात ते युगानुयुगे राहिले आहेत, आणि म्हणतात की देवाची भूक आता प्रचंड वाढली आहे, जी फक्त देवाच्याच औदार्याने भागू शकते. शेवटी ते या रितेपणालाच खरी निष्कामता म्हणतात आणि सांगतात की जेव्हा बाकी सारे गळून पडते, तेव्हा देव हाच एकमेव खरा आधार उरतो.
Where this applies
- Body-faculties abandon. Old-age / illness cue.
- Family fails; entrust to saints. Petition for entrustment.
- Ear / citta still hold. Bhakti-organ remains.
- Samsāra = 84-lakh towns inhabited. Recognize.
- Niṣkāma; deva isbaḷīofsarvasvē. Only refuge.