Abhanga 2226
When you have given up everything else for one commitment, that commitment becomes your only refuge, and it deserves to be honored as true.
The verse
सांगा दास नव्हें तुमचा मी कैसा । ऐसें पंढरीशा विचारूनि ॥१॥ कोणासाटीं केली प्रपंचाची होळी । या पायां वेगळी मायबापा ॥ध्रु.॥ नसेल तो द्यावा सत्यत्वासी धीर । नये भाजूं हीर उफराटे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे आम्हां आहिक्य परत्रीं । नाहीं कुळगोत्रीं दुजें कांहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Tell me, how am I not your dās — consider this, Paṇḍharī-īśa? For whose sake did I burn the prapañca — apart from these feet, mother-father? Give firmness to truth — don't roast the jewel backwards. Tuka says: we have this-world-and-the-other — no other in lineage or gotra.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सांगा दास नव्हें तुमचा मी कैसा | "tell me, how am I not your dās" |
| ऐसें पंढरीशा विचारूनि | "consider this, Paṇḍharī-īśa" |
| कोणासाटीं केली प्रपंचाची होळी | "for whose sake did I burn the prapañca" |
| या पायां वेगळी मायबापा | "apart from these feet, mother-father" |
| नसेल तो द्यावा सत्यत्वासी धीर | "give firmness to truth" |
| नये भाजूं हीर उफराटे | "don't roast the jewel backwards" |
| तुका म्हणे आम्हां आहिक्य परत्रीं | "Tuka says — we have this-world-and-the-other" |
| नाहीं कुळगोत्रीं दुजें कांहीं | "no other in lineage or gotra" |
What it means
For-whose-sake-did-I-burn-the-prapañca + your-feet-are-our-only-lineage abhang. The famous prapañca-hōḷī lament. Sixteenth abhang of the niḍrā-cluster.
The opening — am-I-not-your-dās: sāngā dāsa navhē tumacā mī kaisā — aisē Paṇḍharīśā vichārūni — tell me, how am I not your dās — consider this, Paṇḍharī-īśa. Tell-me, how am-I-not your-dās? Consider-this, Paṇḍharī-īśa.
THE PRAPAÑCĀCHĪ HŌḶĪ LAMENT: kōṇāsāṭīm kēlī prapañcāchī hōḷī — yā pāyām vēgaḷī māya-bāpā — for whose sake did I burn the prapañca — apart from these feet, mother-father. Prapañca = worldly-life, the householder-life. Hōḷī = bonfire, burning. For whose sake did I burn the prapañca — apart from these (your) feet, mother-father? The most resonant biographical-lament: the bhakta-recalls having-sacrificed-his-householder-life (his trade, his place in society, the worldly-comforts) entirely-for-Pāṇḍuranga; if-now-rejected, the-burning was-for-nothing.
The truth-and-jewel: nasēla tō dyāvā satyatvāsī dhīra — nayē bhājūm hīra uphurāṭē — give firmness to truth — don't roast the jewel backwards. Hīra = jewel. Uphurāṭē = backwards. Give firmness to satya (truth); don't roast the jewel backwards (= don't reverse the value, don't turn-the-jewel-(true-bhakta)-into-stone).
The closing — your-feet-are-the-only-lineage: Tukā mhaṇē āmhām āhikya paratrīm — nāhīm kuḷa-gōtrīm dujē kāmhīm — Tuka says: we have this-world-and-the-other — no other in lineage or gotra. Āhikya = this-world (aihika). Paratra = the-other-world. Kuḷa-gōtra = lineage and gotra (family-and-clan-affiliation). In-both-this-world-and-the-other-world, we-have no-other-(refuge); no-other in-lineage-or-gotra (= the Lord's-feet are-our-only-kula-gōtra, here-and-hereafter).
Biographical resonance: Tukārām's grain-merchant trade collapsed, his first wife and son died in the famine of 1629, his stepmother and elder brother went to live elsewhere — Tukārām explicitly burned/abandoned his prapañca to-take-up-bhakti at Bhandārā hill. This abhang invokes-that-history at-the-niḍrā-moment when the-Lord seems-to-have-abandoned-him.
[T]
For someone today
Tell me, Lord of Pandhari, how am I not your servant? Think about it. For whose sake did I burn my whole worldly life to ashes, if not for you, my true mother and father? Stand firm in what's true, and don't twist a genuine jewel into something false. Tuka says: in this world and the next, we have no other refuge, no other family or lineage but you.
मराठी: सांग, पंढरीशा, मी तुझा दास कसा नाही? जरा विचार कर. मी संसाराची होळी कोणासाठी केली, तुझ्या पायांशिवाय मला दुसरे माय-बाप कोण आहेत? सत्यावर ठाम राहा, खऱ्या हिऱ्याला उलटं भाजू नकोस. तुका म्हणतो, या लोकी आणि परलोकीही आम्हाला दुसरा कोणी आधार नाही, कुळ-गोत्रातही दुसरं कोणी नाही.
Where this applies
- When you've given up something major in your life for a relationship or a calling and need it to be honored
- When you fear your sincerity might be doubted or twisted after everything you've sacrificed
- When you realize a commitment has left you with no other refuge to fall back on
- When you speak from total, all-in devotion with nothing held in reserve