Abhanga 2652
There are days when the khaṭakhaṭa of universal-stuck-ness is unbearable, and you realize that even people who could-listen are busy untangling their own nets. Tukārām's verse hands you the language for that day: to whom shall I complain? Everyone is in their own net. The world's happiness depends on not-seeing. The mind anticipates the trouble before it arrives. And the bhakti-relief: I bring the gārhāṇē to Deva; my debt has been borne by him. The bhakta is not asked to resolve the universal-stuck-ness, only to bring the gārhāṇē to the protector. The debt is already sōsiyelē — already borne.
The verse
कोणापाशीं आतां सांगों मी बोभाट । कधीं खटखट सरेल हे ॥१॥
कोणां आराणूक होईंल कोणे काळीं । आपुलालीं जाळीं उगवूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
माझा येणें दुःखें फुटतसे प्राण । न कळतां जन सुखी असे ॥२॥
भोगा आधीं मनें मानिलासे त्रास । पाहें लपायास ठाव कोठें ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे देतों देवाचें गार्हाणें । माझें रिण येणें सोसियेलें ॥४॥
Literal translation
To whom now shall I bring my bōbhāṭa (complaint, outcry)? When will this khaṭakhaṭa (commotion, clatter, noise) cease? When will anyone get ārāṇūka (free-room, leisure) — untangling each their own jāḷī (net)? By this anguish my prāṇa (breath, life) bursts — without knowing, the people are happy. Before the bhōga (experience, enjoyment), the mind has already taken trāsa (trouble); show me a place to hide. Tukā says: I am bringing the gārhāṇē (complaint) before Deva — my rṇa (debt) has been borne by him.
What it means
A 4-verse anguish-and-complaint prayer. The opening question is universal: kōṇāpāśīm ātām sāngōm mī bōbhāṭa — kadhīm khaṭakhaṭa sarēla hē — to whom now shall I bring my outcry — when will this commotion cease? Khaṭakhaṭa — the rattling-clatter, the never-ceasing-noise of samsāra. The question is both who and when — who can hear, and when does it end?
The dhrūpada universalizes the predicament: kōṇām ārāṇūka hōīla kōṇē kāḷīm — āpulālīm jāḷī ugavūnī — when will anyone (at all) get ārāṇūka (free-room) — untangling each their own jāḷī (net)? The bitter observation: everyone is busy untangling their own net; no one has ārāṇūka — leisure, free-room — to attend to another's outcry. The universal-stuck-ness.
The second verse: mājhā yēṇēm duḥkhē phuṭatsē prāṇa — na kaḷatām jana sukhī asē — my breath bursts with this sorrow — without knowing, the world is happy. The piercing observation: the world's happiness depends on not-knowing the depth of the stuck-ness. The seer sees it; the world stays happy by not-seeing. Phuṭatsē prāṇa — the breath bursts — names the somatic effect of clear-seeing.
The third verse names a contemplative discovery: bhōgā ādhīm manē mānilāsē trāsa — pāhē lapāyāsa ṭhāva kōṭhē — before the experience, the mind has already taken trouble; show me a place to hide. The mind suffers in anticipation — before the actual bhōga (experience), the mind has already accepted the trouble as already-happening. There is no place to hide from this anticipation-suffering.
The close: dētōm Devāchē gārhāṇē — mājhē rṇa yēṇēm sōsiyelē — I am bringing the complaint (gārhāṇē) before Deva — my debt has been borne by him. The relief: even when no human can hear, the gārhāṇē (formal-complaint) can be brought to Deva, and the rṇa (debt-of-pain) has already been sōsiyelē (borne, taken on) by him.
For someone today
There are days when the khaṭakhaṭa of universal-stuck-ness is unbearable, and you realize that even people who could-listen are busy untangling their own nets. Tukārām's verse hands you the language for that day: to whom shall I complain? Everyone is in their own net. The world's happiness depends on not-seeing. The mind anticipates the trouble before it arrives. And the bhakti-relief: I bring the gārhāṇē to Deva; my debt has been borne by him. The bhakta is not asked to resolve the universal-stuck-ness, only to bring the gārhāṇē to the protector. The debt is already sōsiyelē — already borne.
Where this applies
- The deep-anguish moment of seeing universal-stuck-ness
- Recognizing the anticipatory-suffering of the mind that precedes actual-experience
- Choosing to bring the gārhāṇē to the only listener who has ārāṇūka
- The bhakti-relief: my debt has been borne by him