Abhanga 2180

For today: head on saints' feet — sāṣṭānga-daṇḍavat; rested in consoling-words — prema-sukha grew within; body flooded by kṛpā's flow — uplifted not otherwise; Tuka says — without my sēvā — pūrva-puṇya store has served.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Sāṣṭānga-to-saints + pūrva-puṇya-store-served abhang.

The opening — sāṣṭānga: śrī-santāñchiyā māthā charaṇāmvarī — sāṣṭānga hē karīm daṇḍavata — head on śrī-saints' feet — I make a sāṣṭānga-daṇḍavat. Sāṣṭānga = full-body-prostration (head, hands, knees, chest, eyes, mind, speech, and feelings all touching ground). The full-bodied-bow at the saints' feet.

The rest-in-consoling-words: viśrāntī pāvalōm sāmbhāḷa-uttarīm — vāḍhalē antarīm prēma-sukhē — I rested in their consoling-words — prema-sukha grew within. Sāmbhāḷa-uttara = consoling, sustaining word. In-the-saints'-consoling-words, the bhakta-found-rest; prema-sukha-grew within.

The kṛpā-flood image: ḍaurlī hē kāyā kṛpēchyā vōrasē — navhē anārisē uddharalōm — this body got flooded by the flow of kṛpā — it isn't otherwise — I was uplifted. Ḍaurlī = flooded, drenched. Vōrasa = flow, current. The body got-flooded by-the-flow-of-kṛpā; the uplift-(uddhāra)-was nothing-other-than-this.

The closing — pūrva-puṇya-store: Tukā mhaṇē maja na ghaḍatām sēvā — pūrva-puṇya-ṭhēvā vōḍavalā — Tuka says: without my doing sēvā — the pūrva-puṇya store has served. Even-without-my-sēvā, the-pūrva-puṇya (= merit-from-previous-lives) store has-borne-fruit. The bhakta credits-not-his-own-effort but-the-prior-deposit of-puṇya.

[T]

For someone today

For today: head on saints' feet — sāṣṭānga-daṇḍavat; rested in consoling-words — prema-sukha grew within; body flooded by kṛpā's flow — uplifted not otherwise; Tuka says — without my sēvā — pūrva-puṇya store has served.

Where this applies

• When you sit at the feet of someone wise and their gentle words give you rest you didn't know you needed
• When something good happens to you and your first instinct is to say you didn't earn it, that grace or luck carried you
• When you feel unexpectedly uplifted or comforted and can't fully explain why, only that something larger helped
• When you're tempted to take credit for a blessing and want to remember all the effort and grace that came before you

Related verses

• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2490 — The divine is most reachable through the living presence of a true saint, not through a di
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with