Abhanga 2631
My service is not for the worldly-procedural — I am your singular dāsa, Keśava. So at the feet I do my childish-insistence — I know no other path. We are one-fold for the master's-service — and the same one-bhāva inside too. Tukā: I do the work as told — you, Deva, know what is dharma and adharma.
The verse
लौकिकापुरती नव्हे माझी सेवा । अनन्य केशवा दास तुझा ॥१॥
म्हणऊनि करीं पायांसवें आळी । आणीक वेगळी नेणें परी ॥ध्रु.॥
एकविध आम्ही स्वामिसेवेसाटीं । वरी तो चि पोटीं एकभाव ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे करीं सांगितलें काम । तुम्हां धर्माधर्म ठावे देवा ॥३॥
Literal translation
My service is not for the laukika (worldly-procedural-only) — I am your ananya (singular, no-other) dāsa, Keśava. So at the feet I do my āḷī (childish-insistence) — I know no other path. We are ēkavidha (one-fold) for the master-service — and inside too, the same ēka-bhāva (one-bhāva). Tukā says: I do the work that was told — you, Deva, know dharma-and-adharma.
What it means
A clean declaration-of-loyalty verse. Laukikāpuratī navhē mājhī sēvā — my service is not for the procedural-worldly-only. Laukika-puratī — up-to-the-laukika, merely-worldly — names service that is satisfied with going-through-the-motions. The bhakta refuses that frame.
Ananya Keśavā — dāsa tujhā — I am singular, your dāsa, Keśava. Ananya (no-other, with-no-other-recourse) is the technical bhakti term for exclusive service-orientation. The bhakta declares the singular-loyalty foundation.
The dhrūpada: mhaṇa'ūnī karīm pāyāmsavē āḷī — āṇīka vēgaḷī nēṇē parī — so at the feet I do āḷī (childish-insistence); I know no other path. Āḷī is the small-child's tantrum-insistence — the loved demand that does not take no for an answer. Because of the singular-loyalty, the bhakta has both the right and the only-route to āḷī at the feet.
The middle verse names the consistency: ēkavidha āmhī svāmi-sēvēsāṭīm — varī tō chi pōṭīm ēka-bhāva — we are one-fold for the master's-service — and the same inside, one-bhāva. Both outer-service and inner-feeling are ēka (one). This is the integrity-criterion: no split between outer-performance and inner-orientation.
The close has a careful theological turn: karīm sāngitalē kāma — tumhām dharma-adharma ṭhāvē Devā — I do the work that was told — you know dharma-and-adharma, Deva. The bhakta does not adjudicate the dharma-status of the assigned work; he trusts the master's knowledge. This is the relinquishment-of-moral-judgment that genuine ananya-dāsa service involves — you decide what is right; I do what is told.
For someone today
When you have entered a service-relationship — to a tradition, a master, a vocation — the verse offers a structure for declaring loyalty without losing integrity: my service is not for merely-procedural-purposes; I am singular, no-other; therefore I have the right to do childish-insistence at the feet; I am one-fold both in service and in inner-bhāva; I do the work I was told, and let the master decide its dharma-status. The relinquishment of moral-adjudication is hard for moderns — but it is the precise content of ananya-dāsa service. Only those with genuine singular-loyalty have this option.
Where this applies
- Declaring loyalty in a vocation, a tradition, a master-relationship
- Refusing the laukika-puratī (procedural-only) version of one's work
- The right to āḷī (childish-insistence) that genuine ananya loyalty grants
- The relinquishment-of-moral-adjudication when the master knows dharma