संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 765 of 4582

Abhanga 765

English: Let-it-be — how-much — You — come — kāku-latī.

When how much should You come pleading; my prārabdha is hard — and you have to recognize this register
When You are bāpuḍa before my prārabdha — and you accept this image
When the strong-one twists the timid-one's ears — and you receive this final claim

The verse

असो आतां किती । तुज यावें काकुलती ॥१॥ माझें प्रारब्ध हें गाढें । तूं बापुडें तयापुढें ॥ध्रु.॥ सोडवीन आतां । ब्रीदें तुझीं पंढरीनाथा ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे बळी । तो गांढ्याचे कान पिळी ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Let-it-be — how-much — You — come — kāku-latī. Prārabdha — gāḍhē — You — bāpuḍē — before it. Release — now — bridā — Yours — Pandharī-nāth. Tuka says: baḷī — gāṇḍha — kāna piḷī.

मराठी: असो आतां — किती तुज यावें काकुलती?. माझें प्रारब्ध हें गाढें — तूं बापुडें तयापुढें. सोडवीन आतां — ब्रीदें तुझीं, Pandharī-nāthā. Tuka म्हणे: बळी — तो गांढ्याचे कान पिळी.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
असो आतां किती "let-it-be — how-much"
तुज यावें काकुलती "You — come — kāku-latī"
माझें प्रारब्ध हें गाढें "prārabdha — gāḍhē"
तूं बापुडें तयापुढें "You — bāpuḍē — before it"
सोडवीन आतां "release — now"
ब्रीदें तुझीं पंढरीनाथा "bridā — Yours — Pandharī-nāth"
बळी तो गांढ्याचे कान पिळी "baḷī — gāṇḍha — kāna piḷī"

What it means

A how-much-pleading-my-prārabdha-hard-You-bāpuḍa-uphold-Your-bridā-baḷī-twists-timid abhang. Prārabdha-stronger-than-deva register. Three claims:

  1. किती-काकुलती-यावें — माझं-प्रारब्ध-गाढं — You-bāpuḍē-त्यापुढें. Prārabdha-stronger-than-deva-claim. Let it be — how much should You come kāku-latī (pleading plaintively, in tear-faced-supplication)?; my prārabdha is gāḍhē (hard, dense, stuck-fast, immovable); You are bāpuḍē (poor, helpless, weak) before it. My-prārabdha-is-stronger-than-You. (One of Tukaram's most-bold theological-pranks: my prārabdha is so-hard that even-You become bāpuḍē* (helpless) before it.)

  2. सोडवीन-आतां — ब्रीदें-तुझीं Pandharī-nāth. Uphold-Your-bridā-claim. Now sōḍavīna (release, disentangle); Your bridā (titles, honor-claims), Pandharī-nāth. Now-uphold-Your-bridā-Pandharī-nāth.

  3. Tuka: बळी — गांढ्याचे-कान पिळी. Strong-twists-timid-claim. Tuka says: the baḷī (strong-one); twists the gāṇḍha's (the timid-one's, the cowardly-wretched) kāna piḷī (ears, twists-the-ears). Strong-twists-timid-ears. (Reading: the strong (deva, given His bridā*) should-twist-the-ears-of-the-timid (the prārabdha) — i.e., assert-Himself-and-defeat-the-prārabdha.)

[T]

For someone today

This abhang names the prārabdha-stronger-than-deva register:

  1. How much should You come pleading; my prārabdha is hard, You are bāpuḍa before it. Prārabdha-stronger.

  2. Uphold Your bridā, Pandharī-nāth. Uphold-bridā.

  3. The strong-one twists the timid's ears. Twist-timid.

For today: the bhakta puts the deva on-the-spot: how-much-should-You-come-pleading-while-my-prārabdha-stays-hard?; before-my-prārabdha, You are bāpuḍē (helpless); now uphold Your bridā — Pandharī-nāth — don't be the timid-one, be the baḷī who twists the gāṇḍha's ears.

This abhang is Tukaram's prārabdha-stronger-than-deva-and-uphold-Your-bridā register — one of the most-bold prārabdha-vs-deva-paradoxes. Compare 0732 drowning-bridāvalī (Tuka's mudra); same bridāvalī-invocation but here organized through my-prārabdha-stronger-than-You-Pandharī-nāth. The baḷī tō gāṇḍhyācē kāna piḷī (strong-twists-timid's-ears) is striking: the bhakta urges the deva to be the strong-one and twist-the-prārabdha's-ears*.

मराठी: ही ओवी prārabdha-stronger-than-deva register नाव सांगते:

  1. किती-काकुलती; प्रारब्ध-गाढं; You-bāpuḍa-त्यापुढें. Prārabdha-stronger.

  2. Bridā-uphold, Pandharī-nāth. Uphold-bridā.

  3. बळी-गांढ्याचे-कान-पिळी. Twist-timid.

आज: Bhakta deva-ला on-the-spot ठेवतो: किती-pleading-You-come-while-my-prārabdha-stays-hard?; माझ्या-प्रारब्धा-पुढे, You bāpuḍē (helpless); आतां uphold Your bridā — Pandharī-nāth — timid-one नकोस, baḷī-हो जो gāṇḍha-च्या-ears-twists**.

Tukaram च-prārabdha-stronger-than-deva-and-uphold-Your-bridā-register — Most-bold prārabdha-vs-deva-paradoxes पैकी एक. 0732 drowning-bridāvalī (Tuka mudra) compare; तीच bridāvalī-invocation पण इथे my-prārabdha-stronger-than-You-Pandharī-nāth च्या मार्गाने. Baḷī tō gāṇḍhyācē kāna piḷī striking — bhakta deva-ला baḷī-होऊन-prārabdha-ears-twist करायचा-urge.

Where this applies

Bhakti

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