संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1223 of 4582

Abhanga 1223

For today: invoke the very principles the divine has taught — including 'debts must be paid' — to hold him to his own promise of taking you.

When you turn Hari's own teaching against him — riṇa-vaira-hatyā don't release without payment; you taught this, so pay me by taking me!

The verse

रिण वैर हत्या । हें तों न सुटे नेंदितां ॥१॥ हें कां नेणां पांडुरंगा । तुम्ही सांगतसां जगा ॥ध्रु.॥ माझा संबंध तो किती । चुकवा लोकाची फजिती ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे या चि साठीं । मज न घेतां नये तुटी ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Debt, enmity, killing — these don't release without payment. Don't you know this, Pāṇḍuranga? — you (yourself) tell the world (this teaching). How much is my sambandha (with you)? Avoid the lōka's mockery. Tuka says: for this very reason — without taking me, there is no break.

मराठी: रिण, वैर, हत्या — हें न-देतां सुटत नाहीं. हें का तुम्हीं नेणतां, पांडुरंगा — तुम्ही जगाला सांगतां (तीच गोष्ट). माझा (तुझ्याशीं) संबंध किती? — लोकाची फजिती चुकवा. Tukā म्हणे — याच साठीं — मला न घेतां — तुटी (मुक्ति) मिळणार नाहीं.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
रिण वैर हत्या "riṇa (debt), vaira (enmity), hatyā (killing)"
हें तों न सुटे नेंदितां "these (riṇa-vaira-hatyā) don't release without giving (nēndītām = without-giving)"
हें कां नेणां पांडुरंगा "don't you know this, Pāṇḍuranga?"
तुम्ही सांगतसां जगा "you tell (this) to the world"
माझा संबंध तो किती "how much (kitī) is my sambandha (with you)?"
चुकवा लोकाची फजिती "avoid (cukavā) the lōka's phajitī (mockery)"
या चि साठीं मज न घेतां नये तुटी "for this very reason — without taking me, no break (tuṭī)"

What it means

Hari-as-defendant in his own court — Tuka's legal argument. The opening invokes a śāstric/folk principle: riṇa-vaira-hatyā — debt, enmity, killing — these three karmic ties do not release without being paid. Debts must be repaid; enmities must be settled (the slain returns life-after-life until reckoned with); a hatyā (a killing committed) follows the doer through births. This is Hari's own teaching (you tell the world, Pāṇḍuranga).

So Tuka turns it against him: mājhā sambandha tō kitīhow much is the (unfinished) account with me? The bhakta's relation to Hari is itself a riṇa (Hari owes the bhakta his self-promise of angīkāra), a vaira (the long enmity between jīva and the māyā-net Hari placed), and a hatyā (Hari has "killed" the bhakta's worldliness — leaving him neither here nor there).

The closing line is the verdict: maja na ghētām nayē tuṭīwithout taking me, there is no break. By Hari's own law, he must take Tuka. Else lōkācī phajitī — public mockery — comes upon Hari himself.

This is breathtaking: the bhakta has cited Hari's law to demand his own salvation.

[T]

For someone today

For today: invoke the very principles the divine has taught — including 'debts must be paid' — to hold him to his own promise of taking you.

Where this applies

Related verses