Abhanga 1675
For today: you have no power of your own — you take work from our hands; behold this by direct-experience — no remainder is left to be spoken; you hide behind us — and that is your partisan-defense given to us; Tuka says — for your very sake, samsāra has broken for us.
The verse
तुज नाहीं शक्ति । काम घेसी आम्हां हातीं ॥१॥ ऐसें अनुभवें पाहीं । उरलें बोलिजेसें नाहीं ॥ध्रु.॥ लपोनियां आड । आम्हां तुझा कैवाड ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे तुजसाठी । आम्हां संवसारें तुटी ॥३॥
Literal translation
You have no śakti — you take work from our hands. By anubhava behold this — no remainder to be spoken. Hiding behind — to us your kaivāḍa. Tuka says: for your sake — samsāra has broken for us.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तुज नाहीं शक्ति | "you have — no śakti" |
| काम घेसी आम्हां हातीं | "take work — from our hands" |
| ऐसें अनुभवें पाहीं | "such — by anubhava — behold" |
| उरलें बोलिजेसें नाहीं | "no remainder — to be spoken" |
| लपोनियां आड | "hiding — behind" |
| आम्हां तुझा कैवाड | "to us — your — kaivāḍa" |
| तुका म्हणे तुजसाठी | "Tuka says — for your sake" |
| आम्हां संवसारें तुटी | "to us — with samsāra — break" |
What it means
Lord-has-no-śakti-takes-work-from-bhaktas + samsāra-broken-for-Lord abhang.
The opening provocation: tuja nāhīm śakti — kāma ghēsī āmhām hātīm — you have no śakti — you take work from our hands. The bold-claim: the all-powerful Lord is here said to have-no-śakti of his own; he takes work from his bhaktas' hands. (Compare 1585's Devā āpaṇa ṛṇī aisā — Lord-becomes-debtor-to-bhakta-by-fortune.)
The experiential-evidence: aisēm anubhavē pāhīm — uralēm bōlijēsēm nāhīm — such (truth) by anubhava behold — no remainder to be spoken. This is by direct-experience, beyond what can be said.
The hiding-defense: lapōniyām āḍa — āmhām tujhā kaivāḍa — hiding behind — to us, your kaivāḍa. Kaivāḍa = partisan-defense, taking-up-the-bhakta's-side. You hide-behind us — that very is your partisan-defense to us. (= the Lord uses bhaktas as his cover; in return, the bhakta gets his partisan-defense.)
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē tuja-sāṭhī — āmhām samvasārēm tuṭī — Tuka says: for your sake — samsāra has broken for us. For your sake, our samsāra (= worldly-life) has broken (= ended, dissolved).
This abhang is one of Tukaram's boldest mutual-dependence claims: the Lord uses bhaktas as his hands (śakti-source), as his cover (lapōniyām-āḍa); in exchange, the bhakta gets samsāra-tuṭī. The radical-equalization of the bhakta-Lord-relationship.
[T]
For someone today
For today: you have no power of your own — you take work from our hands; behold this by direct-experience — no remainder is left to be spoken; you hide behind us — and that is your partisan-defense given to us; Tuka says — for your very sake, samsāra has broken for us.
Where this applies
- When you're doing the real, behind-the-scenes work that lets a bigger cause or person succeed.
- When you give up comfort, routine, or worldly ties to serve something you deeply believe in.
- When someone you support gets the credit while you quietly did the work, and you don't resent it.
- When you realize your devotion to something can't be fully explained, only lived out through action.