Abhanga 2689
Do your own inner work fully and leave the larger decisions to the one you serve, but you may still honestly ask to be met and honored.
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 closing pressure — what is the use of preserving your brīda? — is permitted because the brīda is the protector's vow to the bhakta; if it isn't honored, what is it preserved for?
मराठी: हा अभंग कामाची स्पष्ट विभागणी सुचवतो: मी माझे काम करतो (मनाच्या मुळाशी बसून, माझे गुण त्याच्या पायांशी ओढून आणतो); तू तुझे कर (धर्म ठरव, भेट स्वीकार). भक्त हा रक्षणकर्त्याने काय करावे-काय करू नये हे ठरवत नाही; तो केवळ स्वतःची भक्ती-साधना करतो आणि भेटीसाठी आग्रह धरतो. शेवटचा दबाव — तुझे ब्रीद जपून काय उपयोग? — घालणे रास्त आहे, कारण हे ब्रीद म्हणजे रक्षणकर्त्याने भक्ताला दिलेले वचन आहे; ते पाळले गेले नाही तर ते जपून काय फायदा?
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