Abhanga 2595
For the wilting tendril, water-cloud is the very rule. Don't move foot by foot — abandon the Garuḍa-seat, come at the speed of mind. Tukā: a child cannot bear hunger; the pull of life-water is upon her.
The verse
सुकलियां कोमां अत्यंत जळधर । तेणें च प्रकार न्याय असे ॥१॥
न चलें पाउलीं सांडीं गरुडासन । मनाचें हो मन त्वरेलागीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे भूक न साहावे बाळा । जीवनांची कळा ओढलीसे ॥३॥
Literal translation
For wilting tendrils, water-cloud is the absolute remedy — this is the very rule. Don't come by footstep — abandon even the Garuḍa-seat — come by the mind, by the speed of mind. Tukā says: a child cannot bear hunger — the pull-of-life-water has come over her.
What it means
A short, urgent verse that builds an argument out of three escalating images. First, the rule itself: sukaliyām kōmām atyanta jaḷadhara — tēṇē chi prakāra nyāya asē — for wilting tendrils, the water-cloud is absolutely the answer; this is the very rule of things. Tukārām is pointing out the natural-justice match — every wilting thing has its assigned remedy. The second verse demands speed: na chalēm pāulīm — sāṇḍī Garuḍāsana — manāchēm hō mana tvarē lāgī — don't come step-by-step, abandon even the Garuḍa-seat, come by mind to mind for haste. The Garuḍa-vehicle is already swift; Tukārām asks the Lord to abandon even that and arrive by mind-speed. The closing turn is the most affecting: bhūka na sāhāvē bāḷā — jīvanāñchī kaḷā ōḍhalīsē — a child cannot bear hunger; the pull-of-life-water (i.e., the pull toward the very fluid-of-life) has come over her. The verse loops back to the opening: a child's hunger is itself the wilting tendril to which the water-cloud is the rule. The argument is theologically pressed — you set this rule; honor it now.
For someone today
When you pray in an emergency, you are allowed to argue the rule. The rule is: wilting tendril gets water-cloud; hungry child cannot wait. Tell the Lord — or whatever channel of grace you are addressing — that step-by-step arrival will not do; come at the speed of mind. The closing image teaches restraint of pretense: name the child in you who is hungry, and the pull of life-water she cannot fight. The mature prayer in emergency is not stoic; it is the urgent invocation of the rule of things.
Where this applies
- Praying when help has to come now and you cannot pretend otherwise
- A moment of inner childhood-hunger that has been ignored for too long
- Calling on a mentor or friend in a real, time-bound crisis
- Reminding oneself that the natural-rule of mercy is itself permission to ask fast