Abhanga 922

When you lack the strength to reach what the advanced ones have reached on your own, it's fine to simply ask, like a child, to be carried there.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A wish-fruit-of-elders-but-no-strength-in-body-saints-have-gone-take-me-there-Dēvarāyā-why-elders'-company-without-the-portion-do-this-favor-fulfill-our-indulgence abhang. Take-me-where-saints-have-gone register. Three claims:

1. फळ-इच्छी-पुढिलांचें — बळ-नाहीं — संत-त्या-ठायीं — Dēvarāyā-पाववीं. Wish-but-no-strength-take-me-claim. Iicchīthephaḷaofpuḍhilā; nobaḷainanga; thesantas have gone totayā ṭhāyā; Dēvarāyā, pāvavīm (me).Wish-it-but-no-strength-You-take-me.

2. ज्येष्ठांची-जोडी — परवडी-नाहीं. Elders'-company-without-portion-claim. Why is thejyēṣṭhā'sjōḍī?;if we don't get the paravaḍī?What's-the-use-of-elders'-company-without-the-proper-portion. (Theparavaḍīis theproper-portionthejyēṣṭha should give-to-the-younger.)

3. Tuka: कोड-कर — लाड-पुरवीं. Fulfill-lāḍa-claim. Tuka says: do (this)kōḍa(favor / loving-game); fulfill ourlāḍa(indulgence, pampered-wish). Pampered-child-petition.

[T]

For someone today

It's okay to want what you see others achieving even when you know you don't have the strength for it yourself. Tukaram admits exactly that: he longs for the fruit the elders and saints have reached, but confesses he lacks the strength in his own body to get there on his own effort. So instead of pretending otherwise, he simply asks to be carried, saying the saints have gone to that place, so take me there too. He even asks, half playfully, what use is the company of elders if we don't get to share in what they have, and asks God to indulge him like a pampered child. There is no shame in asking to be carried rather than insisting you earn your way there alone.

मराठी: तुम्हाला दुसऱ्यांना मिळालेलं फळ हवंसं वाटणं आणि त्याचवेळी ते मिळवायची स्वतःमध्ये ताकद नसणं, यात काही लाज नाही. तुकाराम हेच स्पष्टपणे कबूल करतात, ज्येष्ठांना, संतांना जे फळ मिळालं तेच त्यांनाही हवं आहे, पण स्वतःच्या अंगी तेवढं बळ नाही असं ते मान्य करतात. म्हणून ते नुसतं विनवतात, संत त्या ठिकाणी पोहोचले, मलाही तिथे घेऊन जा. ते गमतीने विचारतातही, ज्येष्ठांची सोबत असून जर वाटा मिळत नसेल तर त्या सोबतीचा काय उपयोग, आणि देवाला लहान मुलासारखं लाड पुरवायची विनंती करतात. स्वतःच्या मेहनतीने मिळवण्याऐवजी उचलून नेण्याची मागणी करण्यात काही कमीपणा नाही.

Where this applies

• Take-me. Saints' place.
• Without-share. Elders.
• Pamper-wish. Tender.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2490 — The divine is most reachable through the living presence of a true saint, not through a di
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with