संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2449 of 4582

Abhanga 2449

God is willing to do humble, ordinary tasks out of love for the devotees who cherish him, showing that no act of devotion is too small to matter.

When you feel your simple offering is too small or plain to matter to God
When you see someone lower in status being treated with great tenderness and wonder why
When you are doing a humble, unglamorous task for someone you love and feel it is beneath you

The verse

भाविकांचें काज अंगें देव करी । काढी धर्माघरीं उच्छिष्ट तें ॥१॥ उच्छिष्ट तीं फळें खाय भिल्लटीचीं । आवडी तयांची मोठी देवा ॥ध्रु.॥ काय देवा घरीं न मिळेची अन्न । मागे भाजीपान द्रौपदीसी ॥२॥ अर्जुनाचीं घोडीं धुतलीं अनंतें । संकटें बहुतें निवारिलीं ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे ऐसीं आवडती लडिवाळें । जाणीवेचें काळें तोंड देवा ॥४॥

Literal translation

Lord-himself does bhakta's work — picked up uchchhiṣṭa at Dharma's house. Ate Bhillaṭīnī's tasted-fruits — great love for them. No food at Dēva's own house? — begged greens from Draupadī. Ananta washed Arjuna's horses — averted many crises. Tuka says: such pampered-ones are loved — for the knowing, black is the face.

What it means

THE LORD-DOES-MENIAL-WORK-FOR-BHAKTAS ABHANG. Four Purāṇic-allusions in four verses — each showing Kṛṣṇa-Viṣṇu's menial-service to-a-bhakta.

The four Purāṇic-stories:

  1. Yudhiṣṭhira's uchchhiṣṭa (Mahābhārata): kāḍhī Dharmā gharīm uchchhiṣṭa tē — picked up uchchhiṣṭa at Dharma's house. Kṛṣṇa picked-up leftover-leaf-plates at Yudhiṣṭhira's Rājasūya-yajña — a menial-task.

  2. Śabarī's tasted-fruits (Rāmāyaṇa): uchchhiṣṭa tīm phaḷē khāya Bhillaṭīchīm — āvaḍī tayāñchī mōṭhī Dēvā — ate Bhillaṭīnī's (Śabarī's, the Bhil-tribal-woman's) tasted-fruits — great love for them. Rāma ate the-already-tasted-jujube-fruits that Śabarī had-tasted-first-to-check-sweetness for-him.

  3. Draupadī's greens (Mahābhārata): kāya Dēvā gharīm na miḷēchi anna — māgē bhājīpāna Draupadīsī — no food at Dēva's own house? — begged greens from Draupadī. Kṛṣṇa came-to-Draupadī's-empty-pot in-the-forest and made-himself-content with-a-single-leaf-of-greens — feeding-the-universe through-it (the Durvāsa-rishi-feast episode).

  4. Arjuna's horses-washed (Mahābhārata): Arjunāchīm ghōḍīm dhutalīm Anantē — Ananta washed Arjuna's horses. As Arjuna's-charioteer, Kṛṣṇa washed-the-chariot-horses every-day — another menial-service.

The theological-point: aiśīm āvaḍatī laḍivāḷē — such pampered-ones (laḍivāḷē = pampered, beloved children) are loved [by the Lord]. The Lord is-actively-engaged in-menial-tasks for-his-bhaktas — overturning the-power-hierarchy of-divine-and-servant.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This abhang is a compressed catechism of Vārkarī bhakti-confidence — citing four Purāṇic-precedents to-argue that-the-Lord-personally-attends to-bhakta-needs. The four stories are among the most-quoted in Marathi-bhakti-tradition.

[T]

For someone today

For today: the Lord himself does the bhakta's work; ate Śabarī's tasted-fruits; begged greens from Draupadī; washed Arjuna's horses ; such pampered-ones are loved.

Where this applies

Bhakti

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