Abhanga 1247
When your mind is too worn out to plan a way forward, hold on to what you trust and let yourself be placed and found, like a lost child waiting for its mother.
The verse
बोलोनि दाऊं कां तुम्ही नेणा जी देवा । ठेवाल तें ठेवा ठायीं तैसा राहेन ॥१॥ पांगुळलें मन कांहीं नाठवे उपाय । म्हणऊनि पाय जीवीं धरूनि राहिलों ॥ध्रु.॥ त्यागें भोगें दुःख काय सांडावें मांडावें । ऐसी धरियेली जीवें माझ्या थोरी आशंका ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे माते बाळा चुकलिया वनीं । न पवतां जननी दुःख पावे विठ्ठले ॥३॥
Literal translation
Why tell-and-show — you (don't need it), Deva; wherever you'll keep — keep — I'll stay as kept. The mind has paralysed — no upāya recalls — therefore I have stayed holding the feet with the jīva. By tyāga or bhoga — what to give up, what to arrange? — such a great āśankā the jīva holds. Tuka says: like a child lost in the vana — without reaching the jananī (mother) — suffers — (so) Viṭṭhalē.
मराठी: बोलून-दाखवायला कशाला? — तुम्ही जाणतां, देवा. जिथें ठेवाल — तिथेंच — तैसें-च राहेन. पांगुळलें मन — कांहीं उपाय नाठवत — म्हणून पाय जीवीं धरून राहिलों. त्याग वा भोगानें — दुःख कसें सांडावें-मांडावें? — अशी थोरी आशंका जीवांत धरली. Tukā म्हणे — माते बाळ — वनीं चुकलें — जननीला न-पावतां, दुःख पावतें — (असे मी) विठ्ठले.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| बोलोनि दाऊं कां तुम्ही नेणा जी देवा | "why tell-and-show? — you don't (need to be told), Deva" |
| ठेवाल तें ठेवा ठायीं तैसा राहेन | "wherever you place — place — I'll stay as kept" |
| पांगुळलें मन कांहीं नाठवे उपाय | "mind has gone pānguḷa (lame/paralysed) — no upāya recalls" |
| पाय जीवीं धरूनि राहिलों | "I have stayed holding the feet with the jīva" |
| त्यागें भोगें दुःख काय सांडावें मांडावें | "by tyāga or bhoga — what to give up or arrange?" |
| ऐसी धरियेली जीवें माझ्या थोरी आशंका | "the jīva holds such a great āśankā (unsureness)" |
| माते बाळा चुकलिया वनीं | "to the mother — the child gets lost in the vana (forest)" |
| न पवतां जननी दुःख पावे विठ्ठले | "without reaching the jananī (mother) — suffers — Viṭṭhalē" |
What it means
Opens the Sāsuravāsa ॥८॥ sub-series — 8 abhangs in the vivāhitā-bhakta (married-woman) register where Tuka writes himself as the bride pining for the maika (mother's house = Hari's abode) from the sāsurī (in-laws' house = samsāra).
This first abhang establishes the helplessness: pānguḷalēm mana — nāṭhavē upāya — the mind has gone pānguḷa (lame, the same word used for Hari's stage as in 1220 paratā paratā ṭhōṇṭā). The bhakta has surrendered planning entirely: ṭhēvāla tēm ṭhēvā — keep me however you keep me, I'll stay.
The closing image is the bāḷa-cukaliyā-vanīm — the child lost in the forest. Without reaching the jananī (mother), the child suffers. Viṭṭhalē — vocative to Viṭṭhalā — the mother is the destination. (The grammar already contains the jananī = Hari equation.)
[T]
For someone today
For today: when planning fails, hold the feet with the jīva; like a lost child without the mother, your suffering is the suffering of not having reached.
Where this applies
- When you have run out of plans and every option you try in your head leads nowhere
- When you feel like a child separated from home, aching for a place that feels safe and known
- When you are caught between two worlds, an outer life of duty and an inner pull toward something deeper
- When you are tempted to force a solution instead of simply staying close and waiting to be found