Abhanga 2204
A mind that can never be satisfied keeps swinging like a restless monkey, and reaching into everything only brings rebuke, often without you ever seeing exactly where you went wrong.
The verse
काय करूं जी दातारा । कांहीं न पुरे संसारा ॥१॥ जाली माकडाची परि । येतों तळा जातों वरी ॥ध्रु.॥ घालीं भलते ठायीं हात । होती शिव्या बैस लात ॥२॥ आदि अंतीं तुका । सांगे न कळे झाला चुका ॥३॥
Literal translation
What shall I do, dātāra — nothing suffices for samsāra. Became like a monkey's [state] — coming to the bottom, going to the top. Put my hand in any-which place — get curses, sit, kicks. Tukā, in beginning-and-end, says: don't know what mistake happened.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| काय करूं जी दातारा | "what shall I do, dātāra" |
| कांहीं न पुरे संसारा | "nothing suffices for samsāra" |
| जाली माकडाची परि | "became like a monkey's [state]" |
| येतों तळा जातों वरी | "coming to the bottom, going to the top" |
| घालीं भलते ठायीं हात | "put my hand in any-which place" |
| होती शिव्या बैस लात | "get curses, sit, kicks" |
| आदि अंतीं तुका | "Tukā in beginning-and-end" |
| सांगे न कळे झाला चुका | "says — don't know what mistake happened" |
What it means
Monkey-up-and-down + don't-know-what-mistake abhang.
The opening — samsāra-insufficient: kāya karūm jī dātārā — kāmhīm na purē samsārā — what shall I do, dātāra — nothing suffices for samsāra. Dātāra = the giver. Nothing-suffices for-samsāra — what shall I do?
The monkey-image: jālī mākaḍācī pari — yētōm taḷā jātōm varī — became like a monkey's [state] — coming to the bottom, going to the top. Like-a-monkey, coming-down, going-up — restless oscillation. The mind-as-monkey (= the classic-Indian-image of the chañchala-mana).
The hand-and-kicks: ghālīm bhalatē ṭhāyīm hāta — hōtī śivyā baisa lāta — put my hand in any-which place — get curses, sit, kicks. Put-hands-in-any-which-place, get-curses, get-the-'sit!'-command, get-kicks. (= intervening-everywhere brings-rebuke-everywhere.)
The closing — don't-know-what-mistake: ādi antīm Tukā — sāngē na kaḷē jhālā chukā — Tukā, in beginning-and-end, says: don't know what mistake happened. Ādi antīm = from-beginning-to-end. From-beginning-to-end, Tukā says: don't-know what-mistake-happened. (= the bhakta-can't-identify the-mistake-that-causes the-monkey-restlessness.)
[T]
For someone today
For today: what to do, dātāra — nothing suffices for samsāra; monkey-state — bottom-and-top; hand anywhere — curses and kicks; Tukā says — don't know what mistake.
Where this applies
- When you already have plenty but still feel like nothing is ever enough
- When your mood keeps swinging from excitement to disappointment within the same day
- When you keep butting into everyone else's business and end up getting scolded for it
- When you look back at a bad stretch and cannot even pinpoint where things went wrong