Abhanga 607

When you are trapped between two dangers with no way out, calling out to God brings help in an unexpected form, and one act of grace can resolve both threats at once.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A deva-takes-snake-form-saves-birds-from-hunter abhang. Eight-verse narrative-pavāḍa register. Eight claims:

1. सुख वाटे तुझे वर्णितां पवाडे — प्रेम मिठी पडे वदनासी — opening-claim: sukha in praising the pavāḍē; prema embraces the vadana. Praising-Your-deeds-is-itself-pleasure.

2. व्याले दोन्ही पक्षी एका वृक्षावरी — आला दुराचारी पारधी तो — narrative-setup: two birds nested on a tree; a wicked-hunter came. The threat-arrives.

3. वृक्षाचिया माथां सोडिला ससाना — धनुष्यासि बाणा लावियेलें — double-trap: hawk on tree-top; bow-and-arrow ready. Birds-trapped-between-hawk-above-and-arrow-below.

4. तये काळीं तुज पक्षी आठविती — धांवें गा श्रीपती मायबापा — call-to-deva: the birds remember You; cry: come-quickly Śrīpati-māybāpa. Cry-in-crisis.

5. उडोनियां जातां ससाना मारील — बैसतां विंधील पारधी तो — no-escape-claim: if they fly, the hawk kills; if they sit, the hunter shoots. No-way-out-without-deva.

6. ऐकोनियां धांवा तया पिक्षयांचा — धरिला सर्पाचा वेश वेगीं — deva-takes-snake-form: hearing the cry, quickly took snake-form. Unexpected-saving-form.

7. डंखोनि पारधी भुमीसि पाडिला — बाण तो लागला ससान्यासी — redirected-arrow: biting the hunter, threw him to ground; the arrow hit the hawk. The-arrow-meant-for-the-bird-hits-the-hawk; both-threats-killed-by-the-snake-and-the-redirected-arrow. (One-stroke-saves-from-both-threats.)

8. ऐसा तूं कृपाळु आपुलिया दासा — होसील कोंवसा संकटींचा — तुका म्हणे तुझी कीर्ति त्रिभुवना — वेदाचिये वाणी वर्णवेना — closing-claim: such-You-are-kṛpāḷu-to-Your-dāsa; (You) become the kōmvasā (relief) in sankaṭa; Tuka says: Your kīrti in tribhuvana — vēda-vāṇī can't describe. Even-the-vēda-can't-describe-Your-deeds.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram tells the story of two birds nesting in a tree: a hawk waits above and a hunter aims an arrow from below, so flying away means death and staying still means death too. Trapped with no way out, the birds cry out to God as their own father and mother. God comes in a form nobody expected: a snake. He bites the hunter, throws him to the ground, and the arrow meant for the birds strikes the hawk instead. One single act saves them from both dangers at once, and Tukaram says even the Vedas cannot fully describe such deeds. When you are caught between two dangers with no way out, this verse says to call out and trust that help may arrive in a form you never imagined.

मराठी: तुकाराम एक कथा सांगतात: दोन पक्षी एका झाडावर घरटं करतात, वर एक ससाणा वाट पाहत असतो आणि खाली एक पारधी बाण रोखून उभा असतो, उडून गेलं तरी मृत्यू आणि बसून राहिलं तरी मृत्यू. कुठलाही मार्ग नसताना पक्षी देवाला आपला माय-बाप मानून हाक मारतात. देव अनपेक्षित रूपात येतो, साप बनून पारध्याला डसतो, त्याला जमिनीवर पाडतो, आणि पक्ष्यांसाठी सोडलेला बाण ससाण्यालाच लागतो. एकाच कृतीने दोन्ही संकटं दूर होतात, आणि तुकाराम म्हणतात की वेदही अशा कृत्यांचं वर्णन करू शकत नाहीत. जेव्हा तुम्ही दोन संकटांमध्ये अडकलेले असता आणि कुठलाही मार्ग दिसत नाही, तेव्हा ही ओवी सांगते की हाक मारा आणि विश्वास ठेवा की मदत अनपेक्षित रूपात येऊ शकते.

Where this applies

• Praise = sukha. Self-pleasure.
• Two-threats — call deva. Crisis-cry.
• Snake-form saves. Unexpected-form.
• Arrow-hits-hawk. One-stroke-economy.

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