Abhanga 1086

What looks like theft or loss, when it is God's doing, comes back not as what was lost but as something whole and better than before.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

The closing abhang of the Ghōngaḍyācē sub-series (12 of 12, marked ॥१२॥). The whole 12-poem narrative resolves: the cōra (Krishna who stole the blanket) turns out to be a good thief — placed-behind-Pundalik; the thief's-treasure-room and the finder are one-and-the-same place; what came back is intact (dhaḍakē) instead of the torn (phāṭakē) one given. Six claims:

1. घोंगडें-ठायीं — माग-पायीं. Track-at-his-feet-claim. Myghōngaḍafell-into theṭhāyī;the māga was-found at his pāyī.

2. चोर-भला — पुंडलिक-पाठीसी. Pundalik-placed-thief-at-back-claim. Thecōraisbhalā (good), thecōraisbhalā;Pundalik placed (him) at the pāṭhī (back). (Pundalikputthe thiefbehind himself— i.e. Vitthal stands behind Pundalik. The thief = Vitthal = the one Pundalikhimself installed.)

3. चोर-कुठोरि-एके — वेगळें-नाहीं. Treasure-room-at-one-place-claim. Thecōra-kuṭhōri (treasure-room of thieves) at ēkē-ci ṭhāyī;no need to look vēgaḷē (separately). (Where the thief lives is where the stolen-goods are kept — both at the same Pandhari.)

4. आणिक-चोरलीं — माझें-मेळविलें. Mixed-mine-with-others'-claim. He had stolen others' (things)ādhī;among them (he) mēḷavilē mine. (He's been collecting stolen goods from other devotees too — mine got mixed in.)

5. आपण-शोधिलें — मी-तेच-परी. Others-searched-themselves-I-will-too-claim. They searched forāpaṇa;I too will do tē-ci parī. (Other devotees searched out their own stolen-blanket at Pandhari — I'll do the same.)

6. Tuka: हित — फाटकें-जाउन-धडकें. Phāṭakē-went-dhaḍakē-came-claim. Tuka says: myhita-cihas happened; thephāṭakē (torn) went, the dhaḍakē (sound, intact) came. (The whole point of the theft: thetornblanket I had has been replaced by anintact one. Krishna stole my torn-rag-of-a-self and gave back a sound-and-intact-self.)

॥१२॥ — closing of the Ghōngaḍyācē abhanga sub-series.

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For someone today

This is the last poem in Tukaram's blanket-theft series, and it resolves the whole story. The thief who took his blanket turns out to be Krishna himself, the very god Pundalik installed at Pandharpur, so the thief's hideout and the place devotees go to recover what they lost are literally the same place. Other devotees have had things taken too, and their losses got mixed in with his, and he says he will search for his the same way they searched for theirs. But the real point is what comes back: not the old, worn, torn blanket he lost, but something whole and sound in its place. Losing something to God, Tukaram says, is never really a loss, because it returns mended and better than it was.

मराठी: ही तुकारामांच्या घोंगडी-चोरीच्या मालिकेतली शेवटची कविता आहे, आणि इथे सगळी कथा उलगडते. त्यांची घोंगडी चोरणारा चोर प्रत्यक्षात स्वतः कृष्णच निघतो - तोच देव जो पुंडलिकाने पंढरपुरात स्थापन केला; म्हणजे चोराचा अड्डा आणि भक्तांना आपलं हरवलेलं परत मिळण्याची जागा ही एकच जागा आहे. इतर भक्तांचंही असंच काही चोरीला गेलं होतं, आणि त्यांचं आणि तुकारामांचं हरवलेलं एकत्र मिसळलं गेलं; ते जसे शोधत गेले, तसंच तुकारामही शोधणार असं म्हणतात. पण खरा मुद्दा हा आहे की परत काय मिळतं - जुनी, झिजलेली, फाटलेली घोंगडी नाही, तर तिच्या जागी काहीतरी संपूर्ण आणि सुदृढ. तुकाराम म्हणतात, देवाकडे काही गमावणं ही खरी हानी नसतेच, कारण ते दुरुस्त होऊन, आधीपेक्षा चांगलं होऊन परत येतं.

Where this applies

• At-his-feet. Ṭhāyī.
• Pundalik-placed-thief. Pāṭhīsī.
• One-place. Cōra-kuṭhōri.
• Mixed-mine. Mēḷavilē.
• Others-and-I. Āpaṇa.
• Phāṭakē-dhaḍakē. Hita.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374 — Rather than scattering devotion among many lesser deities who demand offerings, Tukaram sa
• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is