Abhanga 614

Closeness with God feels like finally leaving the strain of the in-laws' house and coming home to a mother's house, where you are family and don't have to fear being judged for your mistakes.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A now-pāvana-māhiyara-with-Viṭṭhal-Rakhumāī abhang. Bridal-bhakta returning to māhiyara register. Five claims (with the dhruvapada giving 6 stanzas total).

In Maharashtrian culture, the bride goes to the in-laws'-house (sāsuravāsa) and longs for the māhiyara (mother's-house, parents' home — a place of unconditional love, freedom-from-constraint, and full belonging). Tukaram uses this culturally-precise image to describe the bhakti-state. Five claims:

1. आतां पावन सकळ सुखें — खादलें कदा तें नखें — अवघे सरलें पारिखें — सकळ देखें माहियरें — now-pāvana-māhiyara: nowpāvana— allsukhē; (it was that) never even anakhē(nail's-worth) was eaten; allparikhē(otherness) ended; now I see all asmāhiyara. Now-purified, now in mother's-house.

2. जवळी विठ्ठल रखुमाई — बहिणी बंधु बाप आई — सकळ गोताची च साई — पारिखें काई ऐसें नेणिजे — Viṭṭhal-Rakhumāī as parents: near —Viṭṭhal-Rakhumāī; (they are) sister-brother-father-mother; the essence / shadow (sāī) of all kin (gōtā); parikhē (otherness) — what is it? — don't know.Viṭṭhal-Rakhumāī as all-family; otherness-doesn't-exist.

3. जगदाकारीं जाली सत्ता — वारोनी गेली पराधीनता — अवघे आपुलें चि आतां — लाज आणि चिंता दुर्‍हावली — one's-own-realm-claim: injagat-ākārabecamesattā(own-rule); paradhīntā (other-dependence) gone;all is one's-own now;lajjāandcintādistanced. Own-rule-no-paradhīntā.

4. वावरे इच्छा वसे घरीं — आपुले सत्तेचे माहेरीं — करवी तैसें आपण करी — भीड न घरी चुकल्याची — home-of-own-power: icchā moves freely (vāvarē), vasē (dwells) in the ghara; one's-own-power'smāhiyara; does as one wishes; nobhīḍa(deference) for mistakes. Free-to-act-no-deference-for-mistakes. (The māhiyara allows mistakes that sāsuravāsa doesn't.)

5. सोसिला होता सासुरवास — बहुतांचा बहुत दिवस — बहु कामें पुरविला सोस — आतां उदास आपुल्यातें — करिती कवतुक लाडें — मज बोलविती कोडें — मायबाप उत्तरें गोडें — बोले बोबडें पुढें तुका — ended-sāsuravāsa-and-mother's-affection: long endured thesāsuravāsa; long days; manykāmē(work) — desire stretched (sōsa puravilā); nowudāsa(free / detached) to one's-own; they (parents) makekavatukawithlāḍa(fondling); bōlavitī (make me speak) with kōḍa (riddle / fond-questioning);māybāpa— sweetuttarā; speaksbōbaḍē(lispingly) — Tuka before (them). Long-sāsuravāsa-ended; mother-and-father-fondle-with-riddles; Tuka-lisps-like-a-toddler before them. (The mother-asks-a-riddle so the child speaks; the child lisps in answer.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram borrows a very familiar image: a married woman who has endured years at her in-laws' house finally returns to her own mother's home, where she is loved unconditionally and doesn't have to be careful or ashamed anymore. He says that is what bhakti feels like now. Vitthal and Rakhumai have become his sister, brother, father, and mother all at once, so nothing feels foreign anymore. The long strain and formality of ordinary life is over, and he can act freely without fear of being judged for his mistakes, the way a child is forgiven at home. He ends by picturing himself as a toddler, being coaxed to talk in loving, playful words by his divine parents, answering back in a lisping, uncertain voice. Living close to God, Tukaram says, feels like finally getting to go home after a long, guarded stay somewhere else.

मराठी: तुकाराम इथे एक अगदी ओळखीचे चित्र वापरतात: सासुरवासात अनेक वर्षे कष्ट सोसलेली स्त्री शेवटी आपल्या माहेरी परत येते, जिथे तिच्यावर बिनशर्त प्रेम केले जाते आणि तिला कसलीही भीड बाळगावी लागत नाही. भक्ती आता अशीच वाटते, असे ते म्हणतात. विठ्ठल आणि रखुमाई त्यांच्यासाठी एकाच वेळी बहीण, भाऊ, बाप आणि आई बनले आहेत, त्यामुळे आता काहीच परके वाटत नाही. रोजच्या जगण्यातला ताण आणि औपचारिकता संपली आहे, आणि आता ते चुकांची भीड न बाळगता मोकळेपणाने वागू शकतात, जसे घरी लहान मुलाला माफ केले जाते. शेवटी ते स्वतःला एका लहान मुलासारखे चित्रित करतात, ज्याला त्याचे दैवी आईवडील प्रेमाने बोलते करतात आणि तो बोबड्या शब्दांत उत्तर देतो. देवाच्या जवळ राहणे म्हणजे, तुकाराम म्हणतात, दीर्घ काळ सांभाळून राहिल्यानंतर अखेर माहेरी परत जाण्यासारखे आहे.

Where this applies

• When you finally reach a relationship or place where you no longer have to watch every word or hide your mistakes
• When you have spent years being careful and formal somewhere and long for a place where you belong unconditionally
• When someone treats you with such total acceptance that your usual embarrassment and worry fall away
• When you notice yourself being coaxed and loved like a child again, even as an adult

Related verses

• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is
• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2459 — Liberation does not have to be earned through grueling effort or endless searching; it is