Abhanga 1287
Once real intimacy has grown at the feet of the divine, stop planning and simply ask to be lovingly cared for, because there is nowhere else left to go.
The verse
आली सलगी पायांपाशीं । होइल तैसी करीन ॥१॥ आणीक आम्हीं कोठें जावें । येथें जीवें वेचलों ॥ध्रु.॥ अवघ्या निरोपणा भाव । हा चि ठाव उरलासे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पाळीं लळे। कृपाळुवे विठ्ठले ॥३॥
Literal translation
Salagī has come at the feet — I'll do as it works. Where else should we go? — here we've been spent with (our) jīva. Of all delivery — only this ṭhāva of bhāva has remained. Tuka says: nurture the laḷā — (O) kṛpāḷu Viṭṭhalē.
मराठी: पायांपाशीं सलगी (आपलेपणा) आली — होईल तसें-च करीन. आम्हीं अजून कुठें जावें? — येथें-च जीवें-च वेचलों. अवघ्या निरोपणाचा भाव — हाच एक ठाव — उरला आहे. Tukā म्हणे — लळे (लाडें) पाळ — कृपाळु-वे विठ्ठले.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आली सलगी पायांपाशीं | "salagī (intimacy / familiarity) has come at the feet" |
| होइल तैसी करीन | "I'll do as it works (hō'īla taisī)" |
| आणीक आम्हीं कोठें जावें | "where else should we go?" |
| येथें जीवें वेचलों | "here — we have been spent (vēcalōm) — with (our) jīva" |
| अवघ्या निरोपणा भाव | "of all delivery (nirōpaṇa) — (the) bhāva" |
| हा चि ठाव उरलासे | "only this ṭhāva (place) — has remained (uralāsē)" |
| पाळीं लळे | "nurture (pāḷīm) the laḷā (pet / pampered-one)" |
| कृपाळुवे विठ्ठले | "(O) kṛpāḷu Viṭṭhalē" |
What it means
Intimacy-at-feet abhang. Salagī is a beautiful Marathi word — familiarity that has crossed into intimacy, the ease that grows when boundaries soften. Ālī salagī pāyāmpāśīm — salagī has come at (your) feet. After the long sequence of holding, complaining, asking — what's come is salagī: the bhakta is at home at the feet.
Three corollaries:
- Hō'īla taisī karīna — I'll do whatever works — no longer a planner; just an intimate-friend taking what comes.
- Āṇīka āmhīm kōṭhē jāvē — yēthē jīvē vēcalōm — where else should we go? — here we've spent the jīva. The jīva has been vēcalēm — expended, used up — at these feet. There's no other place to go because there's no more jīva to take elsewhere.
- Avaghyā nirōpaṇā bhāva — hā chi ṭhāva uralāsē — of all delivery (every messaging-back-and-forth) — only this ṭhāva of bhāva has remained. The exchanges have ended; only the bhāva-ground remains.
The closing — pāḷīm laḷē — kṛpāḷuvē Viṭṭhalē — nurture the laḷā — O kṛpāḷu Viṭṭhalē. Laḷā — the pet, the pampered-one (echoing 1250 laḷā pāḷiyēlā śēvaṭīm). The bhakta now asks Hari to raise-the-laḷā — to keep nurturing this intimate-pet-relationship.
[T]
For someone today
For today: when salagī has come at the feet — there's nowhere else to go; the jīva is spent here; ask Viṭṭhala only to nurture the laḷā.
Where this applies
- When you've spent years planning your spiritual life and finally realize you can just show up as you are
- When you feel too far in, or too tired, to turn back or look for another path
- When you want to ask for tenderness and care instead of results from your practice
- When the back and forth of bargaining with God quiets down into simple trust