Abhanga 1498

For today: what dharma-niti could I teach the all-knower? — the entire Brahmāṇḍa is built as your līlā; the name Mahādeva itself shows bhāva is what's selected; why don't you know my condition at the right time?

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Address-to-Mahādeva-Brahmāṇḍa-built-as-play abhang. Continues the Śiva-sub-series from 1496-1497 (1497 ended marker ॥२॥ on Sadāśiva; 1498 likely opens or continues addresses to Mahādeva). The opening: kāya dharma nīta — tumhām śikavāvēm hita — whatdharma-nīti— would (one) teachyou— forhita? Rhetorical: what could I possibly instruct you about welfare? (= you who knows everything.)

The cosmological-claim: avaghēm raciyēlēm hēḷā — līḷā Brahmāṇḍa sakaḷā — the entire — has beenconstructed—hēḷā(= as play / casually); —līḷā—Brahmāṇḍa— entire. The whole Brahmāṇḍa is your līḷā — play, casually constructed. (Striking: creation as play; construction as casual gesture; this is the līḷā-vāda applied to Mahādeva. Compare Brahma-sūtra 2.1.33: lokavat tu līlā-kaivalyam — creation is mere play.)

The name-and-bhāva: nāma Mahādeva — yēthēm nivaḍalā bhāva — thename(is)Mahādeva; —here—bhāva— has beenselected. The name "Mahādeva" itself shows thatbhāva is what is selected here (= bhāva is the test for Mahādeva, not formal-worship).

The closing-protest: vēḷē — mājhēm tumhām kām na kaḷē — at the righttime—why—mine— to you —not known? Why don't you know my-condition at the right time (= when help is needed)? (= classical-bhakta-protest at delayed-help.)

[T]

For someone today

For today: what dharma-niti could I teach the all-knower? — the entire Brahmāṇḍa is built as your līlā; the name Mahādeva itself shows bhāva is what's selected; why don't you know my condition at the right time?

Where this applies

• When you feel foolish trying to advise someone wiser than you about right and wrong
• When you sense that heartfelt feeling matters more than getting a ritual technically correct
• When you're going through hardship and wonder why help hasn't come even though you trust it's there
• When you want to remember that the vast, complicated world around you can also be seen as an easy, playful creation

Related verses

• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 4497 — Tukaram describes a life so soaked in devotion that Krishna's presence fills every ordinar