Abhanga 1903

Love does not need eloquence or worthiness to reach God; even a small, stammering, unqualified voice can grow familiar at his feet.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

The-letter-itself-opens + viṭā-mastaka abhang. The meta-textual letter-opening of the cluster — Tuka explicitly identifies this as the letter.

The opening: vinavījē aisē bhāgya nāhīm devā — pāyāñśīm Kēśavā salagī kēlī — no fortune to be-pleaded-to — yet at the feet, Kēśava, I have made familiarity. The bhakta-acknowledges his-low-status, but-claims-familiarity-at-the-feet.

The letter-self-identification: dhīṭa-paṇē patra lihilē āvaḍī — pāra nēṇē thōḍī mati mājhī — with boldness, I wrote the letter, with love — my mati doesn't know the (small) limit. Tuka explicitly says "I have written this letter with boldness and love". This is the meta-textual marker that confirms the cluster is a letter.

The pāra-line: jēthē devā tujhā na kaḷē chi pāra — tēthē mī pāmara kāya vāṇūm — where, deva, your limit isn't known — what shall I, pāmara, celebrate?. Where-the-Vedas-can't-fathom-your-limit, what-can-this-pāmara say? (Echoes 1828.)

The childish-stammer: jaisē taisē mājhē bōla angīkārī — bōbaḍyā uttarī gauravitōm — accept my words as-they-are — with childish-stammered words I praise. (Echoes 1785's bōbaḍā uttarī.)

The closing — viṭā-mastaka image: Tukā mhaṇē viṭēvari jī pā'ulē — tēthē myām ṭhēvilē mastaka hē — Tuka says: those feet on the brick — there I have placed my head. Viṭēvari = on the brick (= Viṭhṭhal stands on the brick at Pandhari — the iconic standing-pose on-the-brick). The bhakta places-his-head on the feet-standing-on-the-brick — the classic Pandhari-pranāma.

This is the letter's-formal-opening abhang in the cluster. The bhakta meta-textually-acknowledges this is the letter; places his head on Viṭhṭhal's-feet-on-the-brick.

[T]

For someone today

For today: no fortune to plead with, deva — yet at the feet, Kēśava, I have made familiarity; with boldness, I wrote the letter, with love — my mati doesn't know the limit; where your limit isn't known — what shall I, the pāmara, celebrate?; accept my words as-they-are — with childish-stammered words I praise; Tuka says — those feet on the brick — there I have placed my head.

Where this applies

• When you feel unworthy or too small to speak to God but want to reach out anyway
• When you are about to write or say something heartfelt and worry your words are too clumsy
• When you compare yourself to more learned or eloquent people and feel you have nothing to offer
• When you need a simple gesture of surrender instead of grand words to express devotion

Related verses

• 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 4582 — The closing verse of the whole Gatha promises that reading it with reverence fulfills the
• Abhanga 3335 — Repeating God's name at every step and joining the community of devotees brings liberation