Abhanga 1687
Devotion makes you family to the divine, so your worth no longer depends on caste, birth, or anyone else's approval.
The verse
आतां मी सर्वथा नव्हें गा दुर्बळ । यातिहीनकुळ दैन्यवाणा ॥१॥ माय रखुमाईं पांडुरंग पिता । शुद्ध उभयतां पक्ष दोन्ही ॥ध्रु.॥ बापुडा मी नव्हें दुर्बळ ठेंगणा । पांगिला हा कोणा आणिकांसी ॥२॥ दृष्ट नव्हों आम्ही अभागी अनाथ । आमुचा समर्थ कैवारी हा ॥३॥ संवसार आम्हां सरला सकळ । लपोनियां काळ ठेला धाकें ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे जालों निर्भर मानसीं । जोडलिया रासी सुखाचिया ॥५॥
Literal translation
Now I am not at all durbaḷa — yāti-hīna-kuḷa, pitiful. Mā Rakhumāī, Pāṇḍuranga pitā — śuddha on both sides, both pakṣas. I am not bāpuḍā, durbaḷa-ṭhēngaṇā — for whom does one depend on others? We are not dṛṣṭa, unfortunate-orphans — this samartha is our kaivārī. Samsāra is over for us, all of it — Time has stayed hidden in fear. Tuka says: became nirbhara in mind — accumulated heaps of sukha.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आतां मी सर्वथा नव्हें गा दुर्बळ | "now — I — not at all — durbaḷa" |
| यातिहीनकुळ दैन्यवाणा | "yāti-hīna-kuḷa — daiñya-vāṇā (pitiful)" |
| माय रखुमाईं पांडुरंग पिता | "mā — Rakhumāī; — Pāṇḍuranga — pitā" |
| शुद्ध उभयतां पक्ष दोन्ही | "śuddha — both — both pakṣas" |
| बापुडा मी नव्हें दुर्बळ ठेंगणा | "bāpuḍā — I am not — durbaḷa-ṭhēngaṇā (short-runt)" |
| पांगिला हा कोणा आणिकांसी | "for whom — depend — on others" |
| दृष्ट नव्हों आम्ही अभागी अनाथ | "dṛṣṭa — we are not — unfortunate-orphans" |
| आमुचा समर्थ कैवारी हा | "our — samartha — kaivārī — this" |
| संवसार आम्हां सरला सकळ | "samsāra — to us — over — all" |
| लपोनियां काळ ठेला धाकें | "hiding — kāḷa — stayed — in fear" |
| तुका म्हणे जालों निर्भर मानसीं | "Tuka says — became — nirbhara — in mind" |
| जोडलिया रासी सुखाचिया | "accumulated — heaps — of sukha" |
What it means
Anti-caste self-affirmation: yāti-hīna-kuḷa-but-not-durbaḷa-because-Rakhumāī-Pāṇḍuranga-are-mātā-pitā abhang. One of Tukaram's most-significant self-identification abhangs.
The opening: ātām mī sarvathā navhē gā durbaḷa — yāti-hīna-kuḷa daiñya-vāṇā — now I am not at all durbaḷa — yāti-hīna-kuḷa, pitiful. The self-identification: yāti-hīna-kuḷa = of caste-low and clan-low (= Tukaram's actual social-status as a Kunbi-Vāṇī family in Dehu, considered low by orthodox-Brahminical-standards). Daiñya-vāṇā = pitiful, wretched. The honest-acknowledgment of caste-status, but immediate-negation: I am not at all durbaḷa.
The reason: māya Rakhumāīm Pāṇḍuranga pitā — śuddha ubhayatām pakṣa dōnhī — mā Rakhumāī, Pāṇḍuranga pitā — śuddha both sides, both pakṣas. The radical-claim: by bhakti, the biological caste-clan parents are replaced — Rakhumāī becomes the mother and Pāṇḍuranga becomes the father; both maternal-and-paternal sides become śuddha (pure). Bhakti is caste-equalizing-adoption-by-the-divine-parents. (This is a theological adoption-claim that overrides the social-genealogy.)
The strength-claim: bāpuḍā mī navhē durbaḷa ṭhēngaṇā — pāngilā hā kōṇā āṇikāmsī — I am not bāpuḍā (poor), durbaḷa-ṭhēngaṇā (short-runt) — for whom does one depend on others? (= I don't depend on the world's-social-recognition; my divine-parents make me strong.)
The orphan-rejection: dṛṣṭa navhōm āmhī abhāgī anātha — āmucā samartha kaivārī hā — we are not dṛṣṭa, abhāgī-anātha (unfortunate-orphans) — our samartha (powerful one) is kaivārī. Anātha (= orphan, without-Lord) is rejected because the samartha-Lord is our kaivārī (partisan-defender).
The samsāra-end: samvasāra āmhām saralā sakaḷa — lapōniyām kāḷa ṭhēlā dhākēm — samsāra is over for us, all of it — Time has stayed hidden in fear. Even Time itself hides in fear of the bhakta who has divine-parents.
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē jālōm nirbhara mānasīm — jōḍaliyā rāsī sukhāciyā — Tuka says: became nirbhara in mind — accumulated heaps of sukha. Nirbhara = free-of-burden, full-of-it; accumulated heaps of sukha.
This abhang is one of the clearest articulations of bhakti-as-caste-transcending-adoption — the yāti-hīna-kuḷa honest-acknowledgment combined with the Rakhumāī-mātā / Pāṇḍuranga-pitā divine-adoption that replaces the caste-genealogy with divine-genealogy. Joins 1606, 1676 in Tukaram's anti-caste-corpus.
[T]
For someone today
For today: I am not at all weak, even though by the world's reckoning I come from a low caste and a humble family. Rakhumāī is my mother and Pāṇḍuranga is my father — through them, both sides of my family are pure. I am not poor or puny; I don't need to depend on anyone else's approval. We are not cursed orphans — this powerful one is our fierce defender, and all the struggle of worldly life is over for us; even Time stays hidden in fear. Tuka says: I have become free of every burden in my mind, having gathered heaps of joy.
मराठी: आजसाठी: मी अजिबात दुर्बळ नाही, जरी जगाच्या दृष्टीने मी खालच्या जातीचा आणि साध्या घराण्याचा असलो तरी. रखुमाई माझी आई आहे आणि पांडुरंग माझा पिता आहे — त्यांच्यामुळे माझ्या दोन्ही बाजू शुद्ध झाल्या आहेत. मी गरीब किंवा क्षुद्र नाही; मला कोणाच्याही मान्यतेवर अवलंबून राहण्याची गरज नाही. आम्ही शापित अनाथ नाही — हा समर्थ आमचा कैवारी आहे, आणि संसाराचे सगळे झगडे आमच्यासाठी संपले आहेत; काळसुद्धा भीतीने लपून बसला आहे. तुका म्हणतो: माझे मन सर्व ओझ्यांपासून मुक्त झाले आहे, सुखाच्या राशी जमवून.
Where this applies
- When someone makes you feel small because of your family background or social status
- When you feel like you don't belong because of where you come from
- When you're waiting for other people's approval before you can feel like you matter
- When old anxieties about survival and belonging keep resurfacing