Abhanga 2637
When your whole life depends on someone you trust completely, how you're doing reflects on their care as much as your own effort, so you can pray boldly from that dependence.
The verse
उदार तूं हरी ऐसी कीर्ति चराचरीं । अनंत हे थोरी गर्जतील पवाडे ॥१॥
तुझे लागों पायीं माझा भाव पुसी जन्ममरणां ठाव । देवाचा तूं देव स्वामी सकळा ब्रम्हांडा ॥ध्रु.॥
मागणें तें तुज मागों जीवभाव तुज सांगों । लागों तरी लागों पायां तुमच्या दातारा ॥२॥
दिसों देसी कीविलवाणें तरी तुज चि हें उणें । तुका म्हणे जिणें माझें तुज अधीन ॥३॥
Literal translation
You are generous, Hari — such fame in the charācara (moving-and-non-moving creation). The infinite thōrī (greatness) — pavāḍē (proclamations) thunder forth. My bhāva at your feet wipes the ṭhāva (place) of birth-and-death — you are Deva of Deva, the master of all brahmāṇḍa. What we ask, we ask of you; the jīva-bhāva we tell to you; if we cling, we cling at your feet, dātāra (Giver). If you let me appear kīvilavāṇē (pitiable, miserable-looking), that is your lacking — Tukā says: my life is dependent on you.
What it means
The opening verse establishes the reputation-claim: udāra tūm Harī — aisī kīrti charācarīm — you are generous, Hari — such fame in the moving-and-non-moving. Charācara — moving (chara) and non-moving (achara) — includes everything in the cosmos. Ananta hē thōrī — garjatīla pavāḍē — infinite is the greatness — the pavāḍās (declamations, hero-praises) thunder forth. The pavāḍā is a specific Marathi heroic-praise-genre; Tukārām says the cosmos itself thunders the Lord's praises in this form.
The dhrūpada: tujhē lāgōm pāyī — mājhā bhāva pusī janma-maraṇām ṭhāva — Devāchā tūm deva — svāmī sakaḷā Brahmāṇḍa — my bhāva, attached at your feet, wipes the place of birth-and-death; you are Deva of Devas, master of all brahmāṇḍa. The mechanism is named: bhāva attached at the feet erases the ṭhāva (place, location) of birth-and-death. The bhakta's bhāva — when located at the feet — eliminates the existence-location-coordinates of birth-and-death.
The middle verse names the dependency: māgaṇē tē tuja māgōm — jīva-bhāva tuja sāngōm — lāgōm tarī lāgōm pāyām tumchyā dātārā — what we ask, we ask of you; we tell jīva-bhāva to you; if we cling at all, we cling at your feet, Giver. The pattern is the tūm-chi-mājhā template — singular addressee for all categories: asking, telling, clinging.
The close has a memorable line: disōm dēsī kīvilavāṇē — tarī tuja chi hē uṇē — if you let me appear pitiable — then this is your own lacking. The argument: the bhakta's wretched appearance reflects on the protector. If the bhakta is kīvilavāṇē (pitiable-looking), it is your deficit, not the bhakta's. This is a relational-honor argument: your reputation as udāra-Hari is at stake when I appear pitiable.
The seal: jiṇē mājhē tuja adhīna — my life is dependent on you. The complete dependency-declaration.
For someone today
The verse offers a relational argument in prayer that is uniquely bhakti-shaped: your reputation depends on how your bhakta appears. If the protector lets the bhakta appear kīvilavāṇē, it is the protector's lacking — tuja chi hē uṇē. This is not adversarial; it is the language of someone whose entire-life is tuja adhīna — dependent on you. The honor of the protector and the wellbeing of the bhakta have become a single account. When you must pray a dependency-prayer, you can use this structure: whatever I ask, I ask of you; whatever I cling to, I cling at your feet; if I appear pitiable, that reflects on your generosity, not on me.
Where this applies
- A complete praise-and-dependency declaration prayer
- The relational-honor argument — the bhakta's state reflects on the protector
- Tuja adhīna — life-dependent-on-you — as a foundational orientation
- The bhakti claim that bhāva-at-the-feet wipes birth-and-death from its place