Abhanga 851

Real intimacy with the divine can be so bold that it lets you demand honest answers, questioning why closeness has not come, the way you would confront someone you truly love.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A why-has-kāḷa-come-in-way-thinking-tight-spot-riddle-no-meeting-duality-pāpa-much-or-You-weak-bankrupt-or-bound-by-debt-entanglement-deposit-apart abhang. Six-question-cross-examination register. Six claims:

1. कां-हो-काळ-आड — तुम्हां-पाशीं-नाड. Why-kāḷa-in-our-way-claim. Why haskāḷa come in-our-way — to make a nāḍa (mockery, sport-of-mocking) before You?Kāḷa-blocks-the-way-to-You-mocks-You.

2. विचार-सांकडं — कोडं-उपजलं. Thinking-tight-spot-riddle-claim. Why hasvicārafallen into asānkaḍa?What kind of kōḍē has arisen?Thinking-stuck; some-riddle-blocking.

3. भेटी-उपजेना-कां — द्वैत-पोटीं-धरिलं. No-meeting-duality-in-belly-claim. Why doesn't (it)upajēnā to give such a bhēṭi?Have You dharilē dvaita in pōṭī, Dēvā?No-meeting-arising; You-secretly-holding-duality?

4. पाप-फार-किंवा-दुर्बळ — मागिल-बळ-नाहीं. Pāpa-much-or-You-weak-claim. Is thepāpamuch, or have You becomedurbaḷa(weak)? — that priorbaḷais not (here) now. Either-pāpa-too-much-or-You-have-grown-weak.

5. देणं-दिवाळं — ॠणे-पायीं-बांधलासि. Bankrupt-or-bound-by-debt-claim. What happened — has thedēṇē (giving) gone-divāḷē (bankrupt)?—or were You forcefully bāndhalāsi by ṛṇē-pāyī (debt-feet, bound at-the-feet by debt)?Bankrupt-Hari-or-bound-at-feet-by-debt.

6. Tuka: गोवी-कां — तुझी-माझी-ठेवी-निवडुनियां. Entanglement-deposit-apart-claim. Tuka says: why have You made such agōvī (entanglement, complication)?—Your-mine ṭhēvī (deposit) kept-nivaḍuniyām (apart, separated)?Why-keep-our-deposit-apart.

[T]

For someone today

In this abhang Tukaram does something bold: he cross-examines God directly, firing off one sharp question after another. Why has time itself come between us, he asks, just to mock you before me? Why has my thinking hit a wall, what riddle is this? Why won't you simply meet me, are you secretly holding some grudge against me? Have I sinned too much, or have you grown weak? Has your generosity gone bankrupt, or are you tied up by some debt? Why, he finally demands, have you kept what is yours and what is mine as separate deposits instead of one? This is devotion spoken with the frankness of someone who loves so completely that he feels entitled to demand an answer, the way you would question someone very close to you rather than a distant stranger.

मराठी: या अभंगात तुकाराम एक धाडसी गोष्ट करतात: ते देवाला थेट जाब विचारतात, एकामागून एक तिखट प्रश्न विचारतात. काळ आमच्या मध्ये का आला, तुझी थट्टा करायला का, असं ते विचारतात. माझा विचार अशा कोड्यात का अडकला? तू मला भेटायचंच का मनात आणत नाहीस, माझ्याविषयी मनात काही द्वैत, काही अढी धरली आहेस का? माझं पाप फार आहे, की तूच दुर्बळ झाला आहेस? तुझं देणं दिवाळखोरीत निघालं की तू कुणाच्या तरी ऋणात अडकला आहेस? शेवटी ते विचारतात, तुझी आणि माझी ठेव अशी वेगळी का ठेवली आहेस? इतक्या मनमोकळेपणाने बोलणं म्हणजे इतकं प्रेम आहे की उत्तर मागण्याचा हक्कच वाटतो, जसं एखाद्या अनोळखी माणसाला नाही तर अगदी जवळच्या व्यक्तीलाच जाब विचारावा तसं.

Where this applies

• Six-question grilling. Bold-prayer.
• Bankruptcy-or-debt. Commercial-image.
• Deposit-kept-apart. Complaint.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2477 — Like a child too absorbed in play to notice how tired he is, let go and trust the parent c
• Abhanga 2481 — Pandharpur surpasses even the greatest pilgrimage cities because people there set aside pr