Abhanga 2686
The verse offers permission for candid-accusation within a genuine-relationship. I have come to understand — you have no authority; the evidence is that the Name has lost its potency and prema is breaking; sin obstructs and heat grows; what a quality, you are hīna-śakti. The bhakti-relationship is robust enough to hold this kind of accusation without dissolving. The bhakta is not a sycophant; he is a long-loyal-witness whose report can include I think you have failed me. The accusation does not break the address — the verse is still to Viṭhṭhala.
The verse
कळों आलें ऐसें आतां । नाहीं सत्ता तुम्हांसी ॥१॥
तरी वीर्य नाहीं नामा । जातो प्रेमा खंडत ॥ध्रु. ॥
आड ऐसें येतें पाप । वाढे ताप आगळा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे गुण जाला । हा विठ्ठला हीनशिक्त ॥३॥
Literal translation
It has come to my understanding — now: you have no sattā (authority). Therefore (tarī) the Name has no vīrya (potency); prema is breaking (khaṇḍata). Sin comes obstructing in such a way (āḍa aisē); the heat (tāpa) grows even more. Tukā says: what a guṇa (quality) has come about — Viṭhṭhala — you are hīna-śakti (weak-power).
What it means
A bold candid-accusation verse. Kaḷō ālē aisē ātām — nāhī sattā tumhāsī — it has come to my understanding now — you have no authority. The bhakta declares the verdict of his experience: you have no sattā. This is one of Tukārām's most candid-accusation lines.
The dhrūpada offers the evidence: tarī vīrya nāhī nāmā — jātō prēmā khaṇḍata — therefore (as evidence): the Name has no vīrya (potency); prema is breaking. The two signs that prove the no-sattā diagnosis: (a) the Name has lost its operative-potency (the same Name that was mint-stamped coin in 2628 has lost its currency for the bhakta); (b) the prema (love) itself is khaṇḍata — breaking, snapping. These are unmistakable signs that something has gone wrong.
The second verse names the visible-result: āḍa aisē yētē pāpa — vāḍhē tāpa āgaḷā — sin comes obstructing in such a way; the heat grows even more. Pāpa is appearing-as-obstruction (āḍa yētē = comes-across-as-block) and tāpa (heat, fever) keeps growing.
The close: guṇa jālā hā Viṭhṭhalā — hīna-śakti — what a quality has come about, Viṭhṭhala — you are hīna-śakti (weak-power, low-energy). Hīna-śakti — literally low-or-deficient-in-power — is a direct accusation. The bhakti-stance here is not soft: the relationship is preserved (the addressee is Viṭhṭhalā), but the diagnosis is not softened.
This is one of Tukārām's bhāṇḍakū-prosecutor register verses (compare 1223's citing-Hari's-own-laws-against-him) — the bhakta who takes the Lord to court within the relationship.
For someone today
The verse offers permission for candid-accusation within a genuine-relationship. I have come to understand — you have no authority; the evidence is that the Name has lost its potency and prema is breaking; sin obstructs and heat grows; what a quality, you are hīna-śakti. The bhakti-relationship is robust enough to hold this kind of accusation without dissolving. The bhakta is not a sycophant; he is a long-loyal-witness whose report can include I think you have failed me. The accusation does not break the address — the verse is still to Viṭhṭhala.
The corrective to a too-polite spirituality is that one can be honest about disappointing-experience without leaving the relationship. Hīna-śakti is a courageous diagnosis; the courage is what bhakti permits.
Where this applies
- The candid-protest-prayer that does not soften its diagnosis
- Recognizing that the Name-has-no-vīrya-prema-is-breaking experience can be named honestly
- The bhakti-claim that the relationship can hold an accusation
- Tukārām's bhāṇḍakū-prosecutor register — citing the Lord's failures-of-power