Abhanga 2487
English: Want to grab — but it moves away.
The verse
हातीं धरूं जावें । तेणें परतें चि व्हावें ॥१॥ ऐसा कां हो आला वांटा । हीन भाग्याचा करंटा ॥ध्रु.॥ देव ना संसार । दोहीं ठायीं नाहीं थार ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पीक । भूमि न दे न मिळे भीक ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Want to grab — but it moves away. ★★ What fate is this — the unlucky bowl-of-low-fortune ★★. ★★★ Neither Dēva nor samsāra — no place in either ★★★. ★★ Tuka says: crop — earth doesn't give, alms not received ★★.
What it means
★★ THE NEITHER-DĒVA-NOR-SAṀSĀRA EXISTENTIAL-COMPLAINT ABHANG ★★.
★★★ THE CELEBRATED LINE ★★★: Dēva nā samsāra — dōhīm ṭhāyīm nāhīm thāra — ★★★ neither Dēva nor samsāra — no place in either ★★★. ★★★ Neither Dēva nor samsāra — no place (thāra) in either of-the-two-realms. ★★★ The classic between-worlds-bhakta-complaint — too-renounced-for-samsāra, not-yet-arrived-at-Dēva.
The reinforcing-image: Tukā mhaṇē pīka — bhūmi na dē na miḷē bhīka — ★★ crop — earth doesn't give, alms not received ★★. ★★ The crop — earth-doesn't-yield, alms-not-received. ★★ Trapped-between: the earth-doesn't-feed-me (= I've-given-up-householder-livelihood), and alms-don't-come (= bhakti-result-not-yet-arrived).
This existential-between-state is a recurring-Tukārām-theme — the bhakta's-suspended-state during-the-test-period. Compare 2484's 13-day-fast and 2485's protest-cluster — together they form the trial-by-suspension sub-mood of Tukārām's bhakti.
[T]
For someone today
For today: ★★ unlucky bowl-of-low-fortune ★★; ★★★ neither Dēva nor samsāra — no place in either ★★★; ★★ crop fails, alms don't come ★★.
Where this applies
- ★★★ Neither-Dēva-nor-samsāra-no-place-in-either ★★★. ★★★ Dēva-nā-samsāra-dōhīm-ṭhāyīm-nāhīm-thāra ★★★.
- Earth-doesn't-yield-alms-don't-come. Pīka-bhūmi-na-dē-na-miḷē-bhīka.