Abhanga 1949
What looks like worldly loss or poverty can be the very fortune that finally gives you room to turn toward God.
The verse
आम्हां अराणूक संवसारा हातीं । पडिली नव्हती आजिवरी ॥१॥ पुत्रदाराधन होता मनी धंदा । गोवियेलों सदा होतों कामें ॥ध्रु.॥ वोडवलें ऐसें दिसतें कपाळ । राहिलें सकळ आवरोनि ॥२॥ मागें पुढें कांहीं न दिसे पाहातां । तेथूनियां चिंता उपजली ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे वाट पाह्याचें कारण । येथीचिया हिंणें जालें भाग्य ॥४॥
Literal translation
We — leisure-from-samsāra in hand had not fallen until today. Son-wife-wealth was the mind's business — always entangled, was at work. Such forehead-fortune appears now — all has stopped, pulled-back. Nothing seen behind or before, looking — from there worry arose. Tuka says: the cause of waiting-watching — by this very poverty fortune arose.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आम्हां अराणूक संवसारा हातीं | "we — leisure-from-samsāra in hand" |
| पडिली नव्हती आजिवरी | "had not fallen until today" |
| पुत्रदाराधन होता मनी धंदा | "son-wife-wealth — was the mind's business" |
| गोवियेलों सदा होतों कामें | "always entangled — was at work" |
| वोडवलें ऐसें दिसतें कपाळ | "such forehead-fortune appears" |
| राहिलें सकळ आवरोनि | "all has stopped — pulled-back" |
| मागें पुढें कांहीं न दिसे पाहातां | "nothing seen behind or before — looking" |
| तेथूनियां चिंता उपजली | "from there worry arose" |
| तुका म्हणे वाट पाह्याचें कारण | "Tuka says — the cause of waiting-watching" |
| येथीचिया हिंणें जालें भाग्य | "by this very poverty — fortune arose" |
What it means
First-time-leisure-from-samsāra-came abhang.
The opening: āmhām arāṇūka samvasārā hātī — paḍilī navhatī ājivarī — we — leisure-from-samsāra in hand had not fallen until today. Until-now we-had-no-leisure-from-samsāra. (Arāṇūka = leisure, free-time.) — a confessional statement about how-long it-took for-the-bhakta to-have-time-for-bhakti.
The entanglement: putra-dārā-dhana hōtā manī dhandā — gōviyēlōm sadā hōtōm kāmē — son-wife-wealth was the mind's business — always entangled at work. The classic-trio: son-wife-wealth (putra-dārā-dhana) = the gṛhastha-entanglements.
The turn: vōḍavalē aisē disatē kapāḷa — rāhilē sakaḷa āvarōni — such forehead-fortune appears — all has stopped, pulled-back. Now (with samsāra-stopped) leisure-arrives. Kapāḷa = forehead — what's-written-on-the-forehead (= fate). Vōḍavalē = appears favorable.
The inward-turn: māgē puḍhē kāhīm na disē pāhātām — tēthūniyām chintā upajalī — nothing seen behind or before, looking — from there worry arose. No-distractions = the-Lord-comes-to-mind = chintā-upajalī (= contemplative-worry, the bhakti-form-of-worry).
The poverty-as-fortune closing: Tukā mhaṇē vāṭa pāhyāchē kāraṇa — yēthīciyā hiṇē jālē bhāgya — Tuka says: the cause of waiting-watching — by this very poverty fortune arose. Tukārām's classic-paradox: worldly-poverty = spiritual-fortune; samsāra-failure = bhakti-success.
[T]
For someone today
For today: we — leisure-from-samsāra hadn't fallen until today; son-wife-wealth was mind's business — always entangled at work; such forehead-fortune appears now — all stopped, pulled-back; nothing seen behind or before — worry arose; Tuka says — by this poverty fortune arose.
Where this applies
- When you lose a job, income, or busy routine and suddenly find yourself with unwanted free time
- When years of caring for family and finances have left you no space for reflection, and that finally changes
- When a setback that feels like failure quietly turns your attention toward something deeper than daily survival
- When emptiness or worry after a loss becomes, unexpectedly, the doorway to prayer or contemplation