Abhanga 2625
I walk by my mind's lead-direction, without bringing argued-opinion. The sants have made you stand till now — they held your hand on hip, Deva. I ask only what is — no false-tricks. Don't come with force to a child. Tukā: my dealings are with witnesses; you are miserly, yes, but you are great.
The verse
पुढीलांचे सोयी माझ्या मना चाली । मताची आणिली नाहीं बुद्धी ॥१॥
केलासी तो उभा आजवरी संतीं । धरविलें हातीं कट देवा ॥ध्रु.॥
आहे तें ची मागों नाहीं खोटा चाळा । नये येऊं बळा लेंकराशीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझा साक्षीचा वेव्हार । कृपण जी थोर परी तुम्ही ॥३॥
Literal translation
I walk by the lead-direction of my mind, without bringing argued-opinion. The sants have made you stand till today — they have made you hold your hand on your hip, Deva. I am asking only what is — no false-tricks. Don't come with force to a child. Tukā says: my dealing is with witnesses; you are krpaṇa (miserly), yes, but you are great.
What it means
A small, candid relational verse. The opening describes the bhakta's approach: puḍhilāñchē sōīm mājhyā manā chālī — matāchī āṇilī nāhīm buddhī — I walk by the lead-direction of my mind (mind-as-guide); I have not brought up an argued-opinion (mata-buddhi). The bhakta is not debating; he is walking.
The dhrūpada brings up an old reminder: kēlāsī tō ubhā ājavarī santīm — dharavilēm hātīm kaṭa Devā — the sants have made you stand till today — they have made you hold your hand on the hip, Deva. The iconography of Viṭhṭhala is kaṭa-vara-kara (hand-on-hip) at Paṇḍharī. Tukārām reminds the Lord — you have been kept standing this way by the sants; the bhakta's request is happening inside that long-established posture.
The middle verse: āhē tē chi māgōm — nāhīm khōṭā chāḷā — nayē yēūm baḷā lēnkarāśīm — I am asking only what is — no false tricks; don't come with force to a child. Two claims: the asking is honest (not a fake-routine), and the protector should not respond to a child with force. Bāḷa — child — is the relational-frame the bhakta places himself in.
The close has the wry paradox: mājhā sākṣīcā vēvhāra — krpaṇa jī thōra parī tumhī — my dealing is with witnesses; you are miserly, yes, but you are great. Krpaṇa (miser, withholder) — Tukārām accuses the Lord directly of being miserly with grace. Thōra (great) — but you are also great. The two-fold address is honest-confrontational; the bhakta is calling out the contradiction without losing the relationship.
For someone today
When you must ask honestly without tricks, you can use this verse's structure: I am walking by my mind, not bringing an argued-opinion; I'm asking only what is; don't come with force to a child; my dealing is with witnesses — yes, you are sometimes miserly, but you are also great. The paradox-address — krpaṇa jī thōra parī tumhī — is the right kind of honest-prayer: it does not whitewash the experience of grace-withheld; it also does not lose the relationship.
Where this applies
- An honest petition that doesn't smooth over the withholding it has experienced
- Reminding the protector that the long tradition (sants) established the relationship
- The wry paradox-prayer — you are miserly, yes, but you are great
- Don't come with force to a child — for any disciplinary relationship