Abhanga 558

Honest faith questions its own comforting promises against hard evidence instead of looking away from suffering it cannot explain.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A invasion-real-where-You-dwell abhang. Companion to 0557, intensifying the political-charge. Three claims:

1. काय म्यां मानावें हरिकथेचें फळ — तरिजे सकळ जनीं ऐसें — what — Hari-kathā phaḷa? — all jana tarijē. The opening-fruit-question: what should I take as thephaḷa(fruit) ofHari-kathā(the deva-narrative recital)?; that alljana(people) — betarijē(be-saved, crossed-over)? The promise-of-Hari-kathā: it saves all listeners. But the present-reality contradicts this.

2. उच्छेद तो असे हा गे आरंभला — रोकडें विठ्ठला परचक्र — पापाविण नाहीं पाप येत पुढें — साक्षसी रोकडें साक्ष आलें — here ucchēda ārambhalā — rōkaḍē — para-cakra — Viṭṭhal — pāpa — without pāpa — doesn't come — sākṣa — rōkaḍa — came. The evidence-claim: here,ucchēda(destruction, devastation) hasārambhalā(begun); rōkaḍē (cash, ready, in-real-fact) — para-cakra (foreign-army), Viṭṭhal; pāpa doesn't come without pāpa (= sin doesn't fall on the sinless);the sākṣa (witness, evidence) is rōkaḍa (ready / cash) — has come.The evidence-is-cash-real: invasion has come; this means we must have pāpa-because-pāpa-doesn't-come-without-pāpa.Self-implicating-evidence. (Thepāpāvīṇa-nāhīm-pāpa-yēta logic: if invasion came, we must have done something to deserve it.)

3. तुका म्हणे जेथें वसतील दास — तेथें तुझा वास कैसा आतां — Tuka says: where dāsa dwell — how Your vāsa now? The closing-question: Tuka says: where thedāsa(servants of the deva) dwell — how is Yourvāsa(dwelling) there now? The implied-charge: Your dwelling-with-dāsa-should-prevent-invasion; if invasion has come, where is Your dwelling-with-them? The protective-rule-questioned.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram continues his protest by questioning a promise he has always believed, that hearing sacred stories about God saves everyone who listens. If that is true, he asks, then why is destruction happening right now, in plain, undeniable fact, not as some distant metaphor. He turns the question on himself too, reasoning that suffering does not fall on people for no reason, so perhaps this disaster means his community has done something wrong, even as he holds God accountable in the same breath. He ends by asking, pointedly, how God's promised presence among devoted people can be trusted if it did not stop this from happening. This is honest faith wrestling with hard evidence instead of looking away from it.

मराठी: तुकाराम आपला निषेध पुढे नेत एका विश्वासाला प्रश्न विचारतात, तो म्हणजे देवाच्या पवित्र कथा ऐकल्याने ऐकणारा प्रत्येकजण तरतो. जर हे खरे असेल, तर ते विचारतात, मग आत्ता स्पष्ट आणि नाकारता न येणाऱ्या वास्तवात विनाश का घडतो आहे, कोणत्या दूरच्या रूपकासारखा नाही. ते स्वतःलाही हा प्रश्न विचारतात, असा विचार करत की दुःख उगाच कोणावर येत नाही, म्हणून कदाचित या आपत्तीचा अर्थ असा आहे की त्यांच्या समाजाने काहीतरी चूक केली आहे, आणि तरीही त्याच वेळी ते देवालाही जबाबदार धरतात. शेवटी ते थेट विचारतात, भक्त लोकांमध्ये देवाच्या वचन दिलेल्या उपस्थितीवर विश्वास कसा ठेवायचा जर तिने हे घडण्यापासून थांबवलेच नाही. हे प्रामाणिक श्रद्धेचे उदाहरण आहे, जी कठीण पुराव्याकडे दुर्लक्ष न करता त्याच्याशी झगडते.

Where this applies

• Hari-kathā — saves all? Promise-evidence.
• Invasion rōkaḍē-real. Don't-dismiss.
• Pāpawithoutpāpa? Self-implication.
• Dāsadwell —vāsa where? Protective-rule.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374 — Rather than scattering devotion among many lesser deities who demand offerings, Tukaram sa
• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is