Abhanga 1617
True devotion is a natural, undivided focus, like a faithful wife's heart, a sun-opening lotus, or a child dancing only for its mother, and Tukaram says his own mind has become that way toward Vitthal.
The verse
पतिव्रता नेणे आणिकांची स्तुती । सर्वभावें पति ध्यानीं मनीं ॥१॥ तैसें माझें मन एकविध जालें । नावडे विठ्ठलेंविण दुजें ॥ध्रु.॥ सूर्यविकासिनी नेघे चंद्रकळा । गाय ते कोकिळावसंतेंसी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे बाळ मातेपुढें नाचे । बोल आणिकांचे नावडती ॥३॥
Literal translation
Pativratā doesn't know praising others — with whole bhāva, husband in dhyāna and mind. Thus my mind has become eka-vidha — nothing else pleases except Viṭhṭhal. Sūrya-vikāsinī doesn't take chandra-kaḷā — sings to kokila-vasanta. Tuka says: the child dances before the mother — others' words don't please.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पतिव्रता नेणे आणिकांची स्तुती | "the pativratā — doesn't know — praising others" |
| सर्वभावें पति ध्यानीं मनीं | "with whole-bhāva — husband — in dhyāna — in mind" |
| तैसें माझें मन एकविध जालें | "thus — my mind — has become — single-vidha" |
| नावडे विठ्ठलेंविण दुजें | "nothing else pleases — except Viṭhṭhal" |
| सूर्यविकासिनी नेघे चंद्रकळा | "the sun-blooming-lotus — does not take — moon-rays" |
| गाय ते कोकिळावसंतेंसी | "sings — to the kokila-vasanta" |
| तुका म्हणे बाळ मातेपुढें नाचे | "Tuka says — the child — before the mother — dances" |
| बोल आणिकांचे नावडती | "others' words — don't please" |
What it means
Triple-image of single-minded bhakti abhang. A classic-warkari teaching-abhang using three parallel-images to illustrate eka-vidha-bhakti (one-fold devotion-only-to-Viṭhṭhal).
Image 1 — Pativratā: pati-vratā nēṇē āṇikāñcī stuti — sarva-bhāvē pati dhyānīm manīm — the pativratā doesn't know praising others — with whole-bhāva, husband in dhyāna and mind. The faithful-wife (pati-vratā) does not even know how to praise other men; her whole-bhāva (= entire emotional-orientation) is the husband; in her dhyāna (meditation) and manas (mind), husband alone.
Application: taisēm mājhēm mana ēka-vidha jālēm — nāvaḍē Viṭhṭhalēm-vīṇa dujēm — thus my mind has become eka-vidha — nothing else pleases except Viṭhṭhal. Eka-vidha = of-one-form / single-fold. (Bhakta-as-bride pattern: a recurrent register in Tukaram.)
Image 2 — Sūrya-vikāsi-padma: sūrya-vikāsinī nēghē candra-kaḷā — gāya tē kōkilā-vasantēmsī — the sun-blooming-lotus does not take chandra-kaḷā — sings to the kokila-vasanta. The day-blooming lotus (sūrya-vikāsa-padma = the lotus that opens-only-to-the-sun) does not take the moon's rays (= unlike the night-blooming lotus, which opens-to-the-moon). And sings to the kokila-vasanta — the kokila (= cuckoo) sings only in vasanta (spring); seasonal-single-mindedness.
Image 3 — Child-dances-for-mother: bāḷa mātēpuḍhē nācē — bōla āṇikāñcē nāvaḍatī — the child dances before the mother — others' words don't please. The infant-child dances and plays only when the mother watches — strangers' words don't please him; only mother-attention activates him.
The triple-parallelism: (a) pativratā ↔ husband; (b) sūrya-vikāsi-padma ↔ sun; (c) child ↔ mother. All three exemplify natural-exclusive-attention; bhakti-to-Viṭhṭhal is like that.
This abhang is one of the most-quoted teaching-abhangs in the gatha — used in kīrtana, ārtī-introductions, and bhakti-pravacanas — for its simple-image-cluster illustrating eka-vidha-bhakti.
[T]
For someone today
For today: the faithful wife doesn't even know how to praise other men — her entire devotion is to her husband, in meditation and in mind; thus my mind has become single-fold — nothing else pleases me except Viṭhṭhal; the sun-opening lotus does not take the moon's rays — sings to the spring-cuckoo; Tuka says — the infant-child dances only before its mother — others' words don't please him.
Where this applies
- When your attention is scattered across many pursuits and you want a picture of what focused devotion actually feels like
- When you notice how a young child responds only to its own mother and nothing else seems to matter to it in that moment
- When you are trying to explain to someone why a devoted person seems uninterested in praise or attention from anyone but the one they love
- When you want a simple, everyday image to understand what single-minded faith looks like in practice