Abhanga 2234

Patience often accomplishes what impatience and pressure cannot, and honestly naming your own impatience is the first step toward trusting more fully next time.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Patience-yields-everything + I-sat-at-the-door-as-dharaṇa-second-wrong abhang. Fourth abhang of the restoration-cluster — the dharaṇē baisalōm (sit-in-protest) confession.

The opening — patience yields all: kāya jāṇē mī pāmara Pāṇḍurangā tujhā pāra — dharaliyā dhīra kāya ēka na karisī — what do I, base one, know your end, Pāṇḍurangā — when patience is held, what one [thing] don't you do. What-do-I, the base-one, know-your-end? When-patience-is-held, what-is-there-you-don't-do? A retrospective wisdom: had-I-had-patience, you-would-have-done-everything.

The impatient-bhakta-but-kṛpā-nidhi: utāviḷa jālōm ādhīm mati-manda hīna-buddhi — pari tūm kṛpā-nidhī nāhīm kēlā avhēra — I became impatient first — slow-witted, low of buddhi — yet you, kṛpā-nidhi, didn't disregard. I-was-impatient first, slow-witted, of-low-buddhi; but you, kṛpā-nidhi (treasure-of-grace), didn't-disregard-me.

The deva-of-devas: tūm dēvāñchā hī dēva avaghyā brahmāṇḍāchā jīva — āmhām dāsām kīmva kām bhākaṇē lāgalī — you are the deva of devas — jīva of all brahmāṇḍa — why has begging fallen on us dāsas. You-are-the-deva-of-devas, the-jīva of-all-the-brahmāṇḍa; why-has begging fallen-on-us-dāsas? (= with such-a-Lord, no-bhakta-should-need-to-beg.)

THE DHARAṆĒ-CONFESSION: Tukā mhaṇē viśvambharā mī tōm patita chi kharā — anyāya dusarā dārīm dharaṇē baisalōm — Tuka says: Viśvambhara — I am a true patita — another wrong — sat at the door as dharaṇa. Viśvambhara = world-supporter. Patita = fallen-one. Dharaṇē baisaṇē = to sit-in protest, hunger-strike, dharṇā — the traditional Indian-form of-applying-public-pressure to-a-debtor or-authority. I am-truly a-patita; my-second-wrong was — I-sat at-the-door as dharaṇa (sit-in-protest-hunger-strike). The bhakta confesses: the 13-day fast was not-merely a-vigil but-explicitly a dharaṇē — a pressure-tactic upon Viṭhṭhal. A devastatingly-honest self-criticism.

[T]

For someone today

For today: what do I know your end, Pāṇḍuranga — patience yields everything; I was impatient — slow buddhi — yet you, kṛpā-nidhi, didn't disregard; you are deva of devas — why beg from dāsas; Tuka says — Viśvambhara — I am patita — my second wrong — sat at the door as dharaṇa.

Where this applies

• When you realize patience alone would have gotten you further than the pressure you applied
• When you acted impatiently or foolishly but weren't rejected for it
• When you feel embarrassed that you had to beg or pressure someone who would have helped anyway
• When you honestly name a second mistake, like pressuring instead of trusting

Related verses

• Abhanga 2237 — After naming your faults honestly and admitting your mind is the real obstacle, the deepes
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center