Abhanga 2689
To the sevaka (servant) is the ājñā (command); to the nirōpa (instruction-message) is the kāma (work).
The verse
सेवकासी आज्ञा निरोपासी काम । स्वामीचे ते धर्म स्वामी जाणे ॥१॥
मनाचिये मुळीं रहावें बैसोन । आक्रशावे गुण पायांपाशीं ॥ध्रु.॥
भेटीचे तांतडी करीतसे लाहो । ओंवाळावा देहो ऐसें वाटे ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे माझें करावें कारण । आपुलें जतन ब्रीद कशाला ॥४॥
Literal translation
To the sevaka (servant) is the ājñā (command); to the nirōpa (instruction-message) is the kāma (work). The svāmī (master)'s dharma — the svāmī knows. Sit at the mūḷa (root) of the mind; pull (ākraśāvē) the qualities to the feet. Hurry the meeting; let the dehō (body) be ōmvāḷāvā (āratī-circled). Tukā says: do my kāraṇa (work) — what is the use of preserving your own brīda (vow, banner-of-honor)?
What it means
A 4-verse division-of-labor verse. Sevakāsī ājñā nirōpāsī kāma — svāmīñce tē dharma svāmī jāṇē — the servant has the command, the nirōpa has the work — the master knows his own dharma. The division: the servant takes orders; the orders carry the work; the master decides what the orders should be. Svāmī jāṇē (the master knows) — the bhakta does not adjudicate the master's-dharma.
The dhrūpada is the inner-instruction: manāñciye mūḷīm rahāve baisōna — ākraśāvē guṇa pāyāmpāśīm — sit at the root of the mind; pull the qualities to the feet. Manāñciye mūḷa — the root of the mind, the place from which mind-states arise. Ākraśāvē — pull, attract, draw — the bhakta should pull (his own) qualities-and-attributes to the feet of the Lord.
The third verse describes the impatient-state: bhēṭīce tāntaḍī karītasē lāhō — ōmvāḷāvā dehō aisē vāṭē — I am hurrying the meeting; it feels like the body should be ōmvāḷāvā (āratī-circled). Ōmvāḷāvā — the gesture of circling-the-lamp around someone in āratī. The bhakta wants to be circled in the welcoming-āratī by the Lord; it would also work the other way — circle the body and discard it in offering-to-the-Lord.
The close applies pressure: mājhē karāve kāraṇa — āpulē jatana brīda kaśālā — do my work — what is the use of preserving your own brīda (banner-vow)? The argument: if you don't do my work, your brīda (your reputation-vow) is being preserved for nothing. The pressure is similar to 2688's baḍivāra-jātō — your-banner-is-going.
For someone today
The verse offers a clean division-of-labor model: I do my work (sit at the root of the mind, pull my qualities to the feet); you do yours (decide the dharma, accept the meeting). The bhakta does not adjudicate what the protector should-or-shouldn't do; he simply does his own bhakti-discipline and presses for the meeting. The what-is-the-use-of-preserving-your-brīda closing-pressure is permitted because the brīda is the protector's-vow-to-the-bhakta; if it isn't honored, what is it preserved for?
Where this applies
- The clean division-of-labor in bhakti: bhakta's inner-discipline + Lord's decision-of-dharma
- The sit-at-root-of-mind, pull-qualities-to-feet inner instruction
- What is the use of your brīda if not for my work? honest pressure
- The ōmvāḷāvā dehō offering-gesture