Abhanga 2626
You have done so much trickery and evasion — how much knotting will you do? In stubbornness I have come this far, not holding any other-need. You are wearied by the second — you stay apart, alone. Tukā: from here on, Govinda — don't come to me with jests.
The verse
बहुत करूनि चाळवाचाळवी । किती तुम्ही गोवी करीतसां ॥१॥
लागटपणें मी आलों येथवरी । चाड ते दुसरी न धरूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
दुजियाचा तंव तुम्हांसी कांटाळा । राहासी निराळा एकाएकीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आतां यावरी गोविंदा । मजशीं विनोदा येऊं नये ॥३॥
Literal translation
After much chāḷavā-chāḷavī (trickery, evasion, dodging), how much gōvī (knotting, complication) are you doing? In stubbornness (lāgaṭapaṇē) I have come this far, not holding any other need. You are wearied by the second — you stay apart, alone. Tukā says: now, from here on, Govinda — don't come to me with vinōda (jests, sport, play).
What it means
A protest-prayer with an unmistakable tone of exhausted-patience. Bahuta karūnī chāḷavā-chāḷavī — kitī tumhī gōvī karītasām — after much trickery-and-dodging — how much knotting are you doing? Chāḷavā-chāḷavī is the Marathi word for running-around-trickery, evasive-maneuvers — and gōvī is knot-making, complication. The bhakta accuses the Lord of evasive maneuvers and complicating knots in his case.
The dhrūpada confesses the route by which the bhakta arrived: lāgaṭapaṇē mī ālōm yēthavarī — chāḍa tē dusarī na dharūnī — in stubbornness I have come this far, not holding any other need. Lāgaṭapaṇa — clinging-stubbornness, the refusal-to-let-go quality — is owned proudly. The bhakta's only fuel has been stubborn-refusal-to-have-other-options.
The middle verse contains an interesting observation: dujiyāchā tanva tumhāsī kāmṭāḷā — rāhāsī nirāḷā ēkā-ēkīm — of the second (i.e., the second-claimant, the rival, or the duality-element) you are tired; you stay apart, all alone. Kāmṭāḷā (weariness, distaste). The Lord is weary of anything-second, of dualities, of competing claims; he stays nirāḷā ēkā-ēkīm — apart, alone-by-one. This is unusual diagnostic — the bhakta is naming the Lord's preference for one-on-one without intermediaries.
The close: ātām yāvarī Govindā — majaśīm vinōdā yēūm nayē — now from here on, Govinda — don't come to me with vinōda (jests, sport, play). Vinōda — playful-teasing, sport — is the Lord's standard mode of dealing with bhaktas in the līlā-frame. Tukārām asks for it to stop. Don't tease me anymore.
For someone today
When you have come this far on stubbornness alone, and the games and complications are still happening, the right prayer is not to manufacture more polite-patience. The verse hands you the language: enough trickery; how much knotting are you doing? I've come this far on stubbornness; from now on, don't come to me with jests. The petition is also a confession — my fuel has been stubborn refusal of other options. Honest fuel is permitted in bhakti; you do not need to claim nobler motivations than you have.
Where this applies
- A long pursuit when the addressee keeps slipping away playfully
- Naming one's own stubbornness as the route one took
- Asking for the games to stop after honest exhaustion
- Recognition that the Lord prefers no-second — one-on-one without rivals