Abhanga 1857

For today: deva is a laborer, deva is a laborer — no objection before service; deva is a fool, deva is a fool — seeing strength, (he) hides; deva, well — deva, well — Tuka says — yet (a) great mountain.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Comic-deva-as-laborer-and-fool-but-still-mountain abhang. One of the gatha's shortest and sharpest abhangs — closes the 1848-1857 cluster.

The laborer-line: deva majura deva majura — nāhīm ujura sēvēpuḍhē — deva is a laborer, deva is a laborer — no objection before service. Majura = laborer / wage-worker; ujura = objection, refusal. Deva is a laborer who-can't-refuse-service. (= the bhakta-has-no-leverage if-deva-just-walks-away as-a-day-laborer.)

The fool-line: deva gāṇḍhyāḷa deva gāṇḍhyāḷa — dēkhōniyām baḷa lapatasē — deva is a fool, deva is a fool — seeing strength, hides. Gāṇḍhyāḷa = fool, dim-witted. Deva is a fool who-hides-when-he-sees-strong-(adversaries). (= the cosmic-coward-deva.)

The pivot: deva tara kāīm deva tara kāīm — Tukā mhaṇē rāī tarī mōṭī — deva, well — Tuka says — yet (a) great mountain. Rāī = mountain / a great-one; mōṭī = great, big. Despite all-the-comic-deflations, the deva is still a great-mountain.

The implicit-message: I can call-deva a laborer and a fool, but he-still-remains the great-mountain. (= the bhakta's comic-jests don't-actually-diminish the cosmic-stature; the mountain-stays.)

This abhang is the perfect comic-conclusion to-the-1848-1857 confrontation-cluster — all-the-bhakta's-attacks have-deflated-deva-comically, but-the-final-line restores-his-mountain-stature.

[T]

For someone today

For today: deva is a laborer, deva is a laborer — no objection before service; deva is a fool, deva is a fool — seeing strength, (he) hides; deva, well — deva, well — Tuka says — yet (a) great mountain.

Where this applies

• When you joke around with God in prayer and worry the teasing is disrespectful
• When someone close to you seems too ordinary or too human to be truly great
• When you feel bold enough to challenge or mock what you deeply revere
• When you wonder if intimacy with the divine erodes its greatness

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