Abhanga 2612
When the body has truly weakened — old age, long illness, dying-stage — the prayer Tukārām offers is not stoic. It names every component: the mind has turned back; intellect arrived too late to be of strength; the eyes flow with water; the legs do not walk; I can only fold my hands and speak to the winds. The bhakti petition is to be carried carefully — nēī sāmbhāḷūnī. Pray this verse exactly when one's own body or a loved one's has reached this state. The vocabulary of bodily-frailty does not have to be invented; it is here.
The verse
धरूनियां सोईं परतलें मन । अनुलक्षीं चरण करूनियां ॥१॥
येई पांडुरंगे नेई सांभाळूनि । करुणावचनीं आळवितों ॥ध्रु.॥
बुद्धि जाली साहए परि नाहीं बळ । अवलोकितों जळ वाहे नेत्रीं ॥२॥
न चलती पाय गळित जाली काया । म्हणऊनि दया येऊं द्यावी ॥३॥
दिशच्या करितों वारियासीं मात । जोडुनियां हात वास पाहें ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे वेग करावा सत्वर । पावावया तीर भवनदीचें ॥५॥
Literal translation
Holding the direction, the mind has turned back, with the feet made the anulakṣa (target-behind, indirect target). Come, Pāṇḍurange, take me carefully — I call with compassion-words. The intellect has become helper but has no strength — I watch, water flows in the eyes. Legs do not walk, the body has weakened — so let compassion come. I am making talk with the winds in the directions, hands folded, watching. Tukā says: make haste, quickly — to bring me to the shore of the bhava-river.
What it means
A 6-verse extended-prayer of bodily-frailty — one of Tukārām's most touching late-stage cries. The first verse names the inner-orientation: dharūniyām sōīm paratalēm mana — anulakṣīm charaṇa karūniyām — holding the direction, the mind has turned back, the feet made the indirect-target. The mind that had wandered has now turned (paratalēm) and quietly aimed at the feet — anulakṣīm (the behind-target, the not-yet-arrived target).
The dhrūpada is the cry: yēī Pāṇḍurangē nēī sāmbhāḷūnī — karuṇāvachanīm āḷavitōm — come, Pāṇḍurange, take me, taking-care; I call with karuṇā-words. Nēī sāmbhāḷūnī — carry me carefully — is the language of a parent picking up a sick child without bumping.
The second verse is one of the most heart-rending lines: buddhi jālī sāhā'ē — pari nāhīm baḷa — avalōkitōm jaḷa vāhē nētrīm — intellect has become helper, but has no strength; I look on, water flows in the eyes. The understanding has come, but the body cannot do anything with it; only the tears continue.
The third verse describes the literal bodily condition: na chalatī pāya gaḷita jālī kāyā — mhaṇa'ūnī dayā yē'ūm dyāvī — the legs do not walk, the body has weakened (gaḷita); therefore, let compassion come. The therefore is the bhakti-petition: my disability is itself the warrant for your compassion to arrive.
The fourth verse names the helpless gesture: dishachyā karitōm vāriyāsīm māta — jōḍuniyām hāta vāsa pāhē — I am making talk with the winds in the directions, hands folded, watching. The dying-stage bhakta cannot send messengers; he speaks his case to the winds in the four directions, hands folded, waiting.
The close is the urgent transit-prayer: vēga karāvā satvara — pāvāvayā tīra bhava-nadīñchēm — make haste, quickly, to bring me to the shore of the bhava-river (the river-of-existence). The bhava-nadī (river-of-becoming, river-of-samsāra) requires a ferry; Tukārām calls for the ferry to arrive in time.
For someone today
When the body has truly weakened — old age, long illness, dying-stage — the prayer Tukārām offers is not stoic. It names every component: the mind has turned back; intellect arrived too late to be of strength; the eyes flow with water; the legs do not walk; I can only fold my hands and speak to the winds. The bhakti petition is to be carried carefully — nēī sāmbhāḷūnī. Pray this verse exactly when one's own body or a loved one's has reached this state. The vocabulary of bodily-frailty does not have to be invented; it is here.
Where this applies
- Old age, hospice, end-stage illness
- The dying-stage prayer for safe passage to the bhava-nadī shore
- A loved one's gradual loss of strength, when intellect outruns body
- The folded-hands-to-the-winds gesture of one who can no longer act