Abhanga 495

Kanhoba asks God to place love directly in his heart, because he knows he cannot manufacture that feeling through sheer effort. He comes like a beggar asking for a gift, carrying a great hope rather than any claim of deserving it. During quiet contemplation, he asks not to perform service for God but to receive God's own natural service, freely given. And in the end he asks God to personally introduce him to devotion itself, as if even the capacity to feel devoted is not something he can grasp on his own but something that must be handed to him.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A short put-prema-give-sevā-recommend-me abhang. Fifth of the Tukyā-bamdhu (Kānhōbā) cluster. Four claims:

1. करुनि उचित — प्रेम घालीं हृदयांत — doing ucita — put prema in my hṛdaya. The opening-petition: doing what isucita(fitting / proper); putprema(love) in myhṛdaya(heart). Prema-must-come-from-deva. The bhakta cannot manufacture prema; the deva must place it.

2. आलों दान मागायास — थोरी करूनियां आस — I have come to ask for dāna — making thōrī the āsa. The dāna-request: I have come to ask fordāna(gift, alms); makingthōrī(greatness) theāsa(hope). I-am-here-as-a-beggar-with-a-great-hope. The bhakta's posture isyācaka(beggar).

3. चिंतन समयीं — सेवा आपुली च देई — at the cintana time — give Your own sevā. The sevā-request: at the time ofcintana(contemplation, mind-fixing); give Your own (āpulī-ca)sēvā (= the service that is naturally Yours, not contrived; or, the service of-You).Cintana-time-deva-give-sēvā.

4. तुकयाबंधु म्हणे भावा — मज निरवावें देवा — Tukyā-bamdhu says: deva — recommend me to bhāva. The closing-transfer-prayer: Tukyā-bamdhu says: deva —niravāvē(recommend / hand-over / consign / introduce-formally) me tobhāva(thebhāva-stance, devotional-mood). Deva-introduces-bhakta-to-bhāva. Even bhāva is something the deva must hand over to me.

[T]

For someone today

Kanhoba asks God to place love directly in his heart, because he knows he cannot manufacture that feeling through sheer effort. He comes like a beggar asking for a gift, carrying a great hope rather than any claim of deserving it. During quiet contemplation, he asks not to perform service for God but to receive God's own natural service, freely given. And in the end he asks God to personally introduce him to devotion itself, as if even the capacity to feel devoted is not something he can grasp on his own but something that must be handed to him.

मराठी: कान्होबा देवाला विनंती करतात की माझ्या हृदयात थेट प्रेम ठेव, कारण त्यांना माहीत आहे की केवळ प्रयत्नाने ती भावना निर्माण करता येत नाही. ते एखाद्या भिक्षेकऱ्यासारखे देणगी मागायला येतात, कोणताही हक्क सांगत नाहीत तर मोठी आशा बाळगतात. शांत चिंतनाच्या क्षणी ते देवासाठी सेवा करण्याऐवजी देवाची स्वतःची, नैसर्गिक सेवा मुक्तपणे मिळावी अशी विनंती करतात. आणि शेवटी ते देवाला विनंती करतात की त्याने स्वतः त्यांची भक्तीशी ओळख करून द्यावी, जणू भक्ती वाटण्याची क्षमताही स्वतःहून मिळवता येत नाही तर ती देवानेच सुपूर्द करावी लागते.

Where this applies

• Ask deva to put prema. Don't manufacture.
• Yācakawith greatāsa. Beg greatly.
• At cintana, His-own-sevā. Receive, don't perform.
• Recommend me to bhāva. Bhāva-as-handover.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• 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 4497 — Tukaram describes a life so soaked in devotion that Krishna's presence fills every ordinar