Abhanga 2652
When no one else has room to listen, you can bring your complaint straight to Viṭṭhal, who has already agreed to carry the weight of it.
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) getārāṇūka(free-room) — untangling each their ownjāḷī(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