Abhanga 1414

For today: Hari, you are the resolver — your business is among people; who would walk into this ligāḍa voluntarily? — solve your own kōḍī; I did the work I was told and kept the dharma; let what's yours be on your own head.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Throw-it-back-on-Hari's-head abhang. Companion to 1413's dharaṇēkarī-stance. The opening: miṭavaṇyācē dhanī — tumhī vēvasāya janīm — of themiṭavaṇī(= resolution / closing-up / settling-of-affairs) —you are the dhanī(= owner / master); —your vēvasāya(business) — isamong the jana(people). Hari's vēvasāya — his line-of-business — is settling people's-affairs ; he's the miṭavaṇī's owner.

The challenge: kōṇa paḍē yē ligāḍīm — kēlī taisīm ugavā kōḍīm — who would (voluntarily) fall (paḍē) into thisligāḍa(= entanglement / sticky-mess)? — as you havemade(kēlī) — solve (ugavā) thekōḍī(= knots / riddles). Ligāḍa is the sticky-trap-mess of samsāra. No one walked-into this voluntarily; you made the knots — you untie them. (Compare 1305's vānkaḍē tikaḍē — crooked-cross — Hari's responsibility for the snare-state.)

The bhakta's-credit: kēlēm sāngitalēm kāma — dilē pāḷūniyām dharma — thekāma(work) that wastold(sāngitalēm) — has beendone; —dharma—kept-up faithfully. Tuka asserts hiscontractual-fulfillment:the work you assigned, I did; the dharma you gave, I kept.

The closing-move: Tukā mhaṇē ātām — asō tumacēm tumacē māthām — Tuka says — now — let what'syours(tumacēm) — be onyour own (tumacē) head(māthā). Tuka throws-back the unsettled-portion onto Hari's head. Whatever remains to be settled is yours; it's on your head, not mine. (This is the Hari-tāḍ closing-move (cf. Pattern P2 in notes/observations.md) — Tuka decisively off-loads the residual responsibility back onto Hari.)

[T]

For someone today

For today: Hari, you are the resolver — your business is among people; who would walk into this ligāḍa voluntarily? — solve your own kōḍī; I did the work I was told and kept the dharma; let what's yours be on your own head.

Where this applies

• When you have done everything within your control and are still holding onto guilt for outcomes you cannot fix
• When you feel trapped in a mess of circumstances you never chose and wonder whose job it really is to untangle it
• When you have kept your word and done honest work, but still feel responsible for how everything turns out
• When you need permission to hand over a worry you cannot resolve instead of carrying it endlessly

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