Abhanga 2231

Admitting you pushed things too far, and paying a real cost for it, can still lead to an unexpected, faithful rescue of what you feared was lost.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

THE HISTORICAL RESTORATION ABHANG. — I stayed thirteen days + you kept the manuscripts in the water — your vow made true. Opens the 7-abhang restoration-cluster (2231-2237) following the niḍrā-cluster's resolution at 2230.

The opening — great-wrong-confession: thōra anyāya kēlā tujhā anta myām pāhilā — janāchiyā bōlāsāṭīm chittī kṣōbhavilē — great wrong I did — I tested your end — for the people's words, I disturbed the chitta. A great wrong I did: I-tested-your-end (= I-pushed-you-to-the-limit); for-the-people's-words I-disturbed-the-chitta. The bhakta confesses-his-niḍrā-act as a-wrong against-Viṭhṭhal — he forced-the-Lord's-hand.

THE THIRTEEN-DAY LINE: bhāgavilāsī kēlā sīṇa adhama mī yāti-hīna — jhānkūni lōchana divasa tērā rāhilōm — you made me undergo fatigue — I am low, caste-less — closing the eyes, I stayed for thirteen days. You-made-me undergo-fatigue (sīṇa); I-am adhama, caste-less; closing-the-eyes (in vigil), I stayed for THIRTEEN DAYS (divasa tērā). THIS IS THE CANONICAL THIRTEEN-DAY-FAST LINE — the foundational textual basis for the Vārkarī-tradition's count of 13 days. (Note: the prose-marginalia at 2210 said "five days" — this abhang here gives the full canonical "thirteen days" count.)

The yōga-kṣēma transfer: avaghē ghālūniyām kōḍē tāna-bhukēchē sānkaḍē — yōga-kṣēma puḍhē tuja karaṇē lāgēla — placing all the hardships, the trouble of thirst and hunger — yōga-kṣēma you'll have to do henceforth. Yōga-kṣēma = acquiring-and-preserving, welfare-and-protection (a Bhagavad-Gītā term: yōga-kṣēmam vahāmy aham, "I bear the yōga-kṣēma of-the-bhakta"). Placing-all-the-hardships and-the-trouble-of-thirst-and-hunger (on-you), yōga-kṣēma you'll-have-to-do henceforth (= the bhakta-shifts the burden-of-his-welfare entirely-to-Viṭhṭhal).

THE RESTORATION LINE: udakīm rākhilē kāgada chukavilā jana-vāda — Tukā mhaṇē brīda sācha kēlē āpulē — you kept the manuscripts in the water — escaped the people's slander — Tuka says: your vow (biruda) you made true. Udakīm = in the water. Kāgada = manuscripts, papers. Jana-vāda = people's-slander, public-controversy. Brīda/biruda = vow, title, banner-promise. YOU KEPT THE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE WATER (= Viṭhṭhal preserved-them in-the-Indrāyaṇī rather-than-letting-them-be-destroyed); YOU ESCAPED THE PEOPLE'S SLANDER; YOUR VOW (biruda) YOU MADE TRUE. THIS IS THE EXPLICIT TEXTUAL BASIS for-the-Vārkarī-tradition-that-Viṭhṭhal-restored-the-drowned-manuscripts. The "biruda" of-Viṭhṭhal (= dīna-anātha-nātha, "Lord of the helpless") was-honored.

Historical significance: This abhang is one-of-the-foundational-texts of-Tukārām-hagiography. It contains the two most-historically-cited lines: 1. divasa tērā rāhilōm — the explicit 13-day-fast count 2. udakīm rākhilē kāgada — brīda sācha kēlē āpulē — the explicit manuscripts-preserved-in-water statement

Together these establish the canonical narrative-form of the kavitvā-buḍavaṇē episode that-has-been-transmitted-across-centuries in Vārkarī oral and-written traditions.

[T]

For someone today

I confess I did a great wrong, I pushed you to your very limit, and let other people's words stir up trouble in my heart. You made me suffer for it, low and outcast as I am, closing my eyes in vigil for thirteen days straight. I laid every hardship, every pang of hunger and thirst, before you, leaving my whole welfare and protection in your hands from now on. And you kept my manuscripts safe in the water, sparing me from public disgrace, Tuka says, so your vow proved true.

This is the canonical abhang of restoration. After Tukaram's thirteen-day fast on the bank of the Indrayani River, following the drowning of his manuscripts, Vitthal preserved them in the water and returned them, honoring his vow as protector of the helpless. The two phrases, that he stayed thirteen days, and that the manuscripts were kept safe in the water, became foundational to the whole tradition of the manuscripts' rescue.

मराठी: मी मोठा अन्याय केला, तुझी परीक्षा पाहिली, लोकांच्या बोलण्यामुळे माझं मन क्षोभलं. तू मला थकवलंस, मी अधम, जातिहीन आहे, डोळे मिटून तेरा दिवस तसाच राहिलो. तहान-भुकेचं सगळं संकट तुझ्यावर सोपवलं, आता माझं योगक्षेम तुलाच पाहावं लागेल. तू माझी वही पाण्यात राखलीस, लोकांची निंदा टाळलीस, तुका म्हणतो, तू तुझं बिरुद खरं करून दाखवलंस.

ही तुकारामांच्या ग्रंथ-उद्धाराची प्रसिद्ध ओवी आहे. वह्या इंद्रायणीत बुडवल्यानंतर तुकारामांनी तेरा दिवस उपोषण केलं, आणि विठ्ठलाने त्या वह्या पाण्यातच राखून परत दिल्या, असहायांचं रक्षण करण्याचं आपलं बिरुद खरं करून दाखवलं. तेरा दिवस राहिलो आणि उदकात वह्या राखल्या, हे दोन्ही उल्लेख वारकरी परंपरेतील गाथा-उद्धाराच्या कथेचा मूळ आधार आहेत.

Where this applies

• When you realize you pushed a relationship or situation past a reasonable limit
• When you let other people's opinions stir up conflict that wasn't necessary
• When you've paid a real, exhausting cost for a stand you took
• When something you gave up for lost turns out to have been protected the whole time

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