Abhanga 2004
Staying close to good people in even the humblest role uplifts you more than status or purity rules ever could.
The verse
संतांचे घरींचा दास मी कामारी । दारीं परोपरीं लोळतसें ॥१॥ चरणींचे रज लागती अंगांस । तेण बेताळीस उद्धरती ॥ध्रु.॥ उच्छष्टि हें जमा करुनि पत्रावळी । घालीन कवळी मुखामाजी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मी आणीक विचार । नेणें हे चि सार मानीतसें ॥३॥ ॥४॥
Literal translation
I am the dāsa-kāmārī of saints' homes — I roll at the doorways, again and again. The foot-dust touches my body — by it, 42 (generations) are uplifted. I'll gather their leftovers in pattravaḷī (leaf-plates) — I'll cast morsels in my mouth. Tuka says: I don't know other consideration — I take this itself as the essence. ॥4॥
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| संतांचे घरींचा दास मी कामारी | "I am the dāsa-kāmārī of saints' homes" |
| दारीं परोपरीं लोळतसें | "I roll at the doorways, again and again" |
| चरणींचे रज लागती अंगांस | "the foot-dust touches my body" |
| तेण बेताळीस उद्धरती | "by it — 42 (generations) are uplifted" |
| उच्छष्टि हें जमा करुनि पत्रावळी | "I'll gather their leftovers in pattravaḷī" |
| घालीन कवळी मुखामाजी | "I'll cast morsels in my mouth" |
| तुका म्हणे मी आणीक विचार | "Tuka says — I don't know other consideration" |
| नेणें हे चि सार मानीतसें | "I take this itself as the essence" |
| ॥४॥ | "colophon-4 — closes 4-abhang sub-cluster (2001-2004)" |
What it means
Dāsa-kāmārī-at-saints'-doorways + uchchhiṣṭa-as-prasāda abhang. CLOSES 4-ABHANG SUB-CLUSTER.
The opening — radical-self-effacement: santāñchē gharīñchā dāsa mī kāmārī — dārī parōparī lōḷatasēm — I am the dāsa-kāmārī of saints' homes — roll at doorways again and again. Dāsa-kāmārī = menial-servant (the lowest household-position, doing kāma-cleaning-work). Lōḷatasēm = roll on the ground. Tukārām declares: I'm the menial-servant; I roll-at-the-saints'-doorways.
The 42-generations-uplifting: charaṇīñchē raja lāgatī angāmsa — tēṇa bētāḷīsa uddharatī — foot-dust touches my body — 42 (generations) uplifted. Bētāḷīsa = forty-two (= 21 ancestors + 21 descendants in the traditional uplift-count). The saints' foot-dust on-my-body uplifts forty-two-generations.
THE RADICAL UCHCHHIṢṬA-LINE: uchchhaṣṭi hē jamā karūni patrāvaḷī — ghālīna kavaḷī mukhāmājī — I'll gather their leftovers in pattravaḷī — cast morsels in my mouth. Uchchhiṣṭa = food-leftovers, technically-impure in caste-norms; patrāvaḷī = leaf-plate (used disposably, especially for prasāda). Tukārām declares: I'll-gather the saints'-leftovers in-leaf-plates and-eat-them as-prasāda. A radical anti-caste-purity statement — paired with 1986's Vaiṣṇavāmcyā gharī uṣṭāvaḷī (also: leftover-scraps at-Vaiṣṇavas'-homes). Tukārām's sustained position: the saints' uchchhiṣṭa is the highest-prasāda, regardless of-purity-rules.
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē mī āṇīka vichāra — nēṇē hē chi sāra mānītasēm — Tuka says: I don't know other consideration — I take this itself as the essence. No-other-philosophy; this-IS-the-essence.
Colophon ॥४॥ confirms 4-abhang sub-cluster (2001-2004).
[T]
For someone today
For today: I am the dāsa-kāmārī of saints' homes — roll at doorways again and again; foot-dust touches body — 42 generations uplifted; gather leftovers in pattravaḷī — cast morsels in mouth; Tuka says — I don't know other consideration — take this as essence.
Where this applies
- When you feel you are too proud to take a humble role near people or work you admire
- When you worry that serving quietly in the background is beneath you
- When you catch yourself judging closeness to good company by status or comfort instead of by what it teaches you
- When you want to stay connected to a community of good people even if it means starting at the bottom