Abhanga 1872
Devotion, like water, doesn't flow on its own — it takes real skill and effort to channel it, and you become whatever seed you actually plant.
The verse
बळ बुद्धी वेचुनियां शक्ति । उदक चालवावें युक्ति ॥१॥ नाहीं चळण तया अंगीं । धांवें लवणामागें वेगीं ॥ध्रु.॥ पाट मोट कळा । भरित पखाळा सागळा ॥२॥ बीज ज्यासी घ्यावें । तुका म्हणे तैसें व्हावें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Spending strength, intelligence, śakti — water is made to flow by yukti. No movement in its body — runs after the slope swiftly. Channel, mōṭa, kaḷā — fills pakhāḷā and sāgaḷā. The seed one wants to take — Tuka says — should become like that.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| बळ बुद्धी वेचुनियां शक्ति | "spending — strength, intelligence, śakti" |
| उदक चालवावें युक्ति | "water is to be made-to-flow — by yukti (clever method)" |
| नाहीं चळण तया अंगीं | "no movement — in its (water's) body" |
| धांवें लवणामागें वेगीं | "runs — after the slope (lavaṇā) — swiftly" |
| पाट मोट कळा | "channel, mōṭa, kaḷā" |
| भरित पखाळा सागळा | "fills — pakhāḷā and sāgaḷā (water-vessels)" |
| बीज ज्यासी घ्यावें | "the seed one wants to take" |
| तुका म्हणे तैसें व्हावें | "Tuka says — should become like that" |
What it means
Like-seed-like-fruit + water-flows-by-yukti abhang.
The opening: baḷa buddhī vēcuniyām śakti — udaka cālavāvē yukti — spending strength, intelligence, śakti — water is made to flow by yukti. Yukti = clever method, technique. Water doesn't-flow-by-itself; it requires-spent-strength-intelligence-śakti and-yukti.
The slope-line: nāhīm caḷaṇa tayā angī — dhāmvē lavaṇā-māgē vēgī — no movement in its body — runs after the slope swiftly. Lavaṇā = slope, downward-incline. Water has no-self-movement; runs-only-after-the-slope (= follows-the-channel-given-it).
The irrigation-mechanism: pāṭa mōṭa kaḷā — bharita pakhāḷā sāgaḷā — channel, mōṭa, kaḷā — fills pakhāḷā and sāgaḷā. Pāṭa = irrigation-channel; mōṭa = the leather-bucket-on-rope-pulled-by-bullocks at-a-well; kaḷā = mechanism / device; pakhāḷā = small-water-skin; sāgaḷā = big-vessel. The whole-irrigation-apparatus — channel, leather-bucket, mechanism — fills water-vessels small-and-large.
The closing-principle: bīja jyāsī ghyāvē — Tukā mhaṇē taisē hō'āvē — the seed one wants to take — Tuka says — should become like that. Like-seed-like-fruit principle: to take a particular-seed (= particular-realization), one must-become-like-that.
The implicit-message: bhakti, like-water, requires-yukti to-channel; bhakti follows-the-slope-given-it (= the bhāva-of-the-bhakta); to-attain-a-fruit-(realization), one-must-shape-oneself-to-be-the-corresponding-seed. Practical bhakti-technique abhang.
[T]
For someone today
For today: spending strength, intelligence, śakti — water is made to flow by yukti; no movement in its (own) body — runs after the slope swiftly; channel, mōṭa, kaḷā — fills pakhāḷā and sāgaḷā; the seed one wants to take — Tuka says — one should become like that.
Where this applies
- When you want spiritual growth but expect it to arrive without any deliberate effort or method.
- When you're building a habit of prayer, chanting, or discipline and need to treat it as a skill you develop, not a feeling you wait for.
- When you're disappointed with how your life has turned out and need to notice what seed you've actually been planting.
- When you need practical technique, not just good intentions, to make a practice actually work.