Abhanga 2596
My words are not ornamental — I call from the real condition. Don't let kāma-delay come between — you are svayambhu compassion incarnate. Tukā: turn your face toward me; the moment I see those feet, I embrace them.
The verse
शृंगारिक माझीं नव्हती उत्तरें । आळवितों खरे अवस्थेच्या ॥१॥
न घलावा मधीं कामाचा विलंब । तुम्ही तों स्वयंभ करुणामूर्ति ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे केलें सन्मुख वदन । देखतां चरण पोटाळीन ॥३॥
Literal translation
My responses are not ornamental — I am calling from the true condition. Do not place the delay of kāma (desire/business) in between; you, indeed, are self-arisen compassion incarnate. Tukā says: I have turned my face directly toward you — the moment I see those feet, I will embrace them.
What it means
A small verse of prayer-discipline. Śrngārika mājhīm navhatī uttarē — my responses are not ornamental. Tukārām disclaims literary adornment at the outset: this is not a polished bhajan, this is āḷavitōm kharē avasthēchyā — I am calling from the real condition. The second verse asks specifically for no kāma-vilamba — don't let the delay-of-desire/business slip in between us. Vilamba (delay) is the enemy of meeting, and kāma is its usual cause: side-business, secondary attractions, the long list of intervening things. The argument: you are svayambhū karuṇā-mūrti — self-arisen compassion incarnate. Compassion that is svayambhū doesn't have to be summoned; it has to be unblocked. The final verse names what Tukārām will do at the meeting-moment: kēlēm sanmukha vadana — I have turned my face toward you — and dēkhatām charaṇa pōṭāḷīna — the moment I see those feet, I will clasp them to my chest. The verse closes on the small, certain act that requires no rehearsal.
For someone today
When you must pray, drop the rhetorical adornment. Begin: my words are not ornamental — I am calling from the real condition. Then make the specific request: do not let delay come between us. Name the addressee correctly: you are self-arisen compassion; you do not have to be invented, only unblocked. And then trust the body's small knowledge — at the moment of meeting, you will know what to do; you will embrace the feet. You don't have to script the meeting.
Where this applies
- The moment when sophisticated language fails and bare condition speaks
- Asking explicitly that no further delay come between you and what matters
- Trusting that you will know how to receive grace at the moment it arrives
- A short, direct prayer for an unprocedural meeting