Abhanga 2691
A useful choice-of-kinsman verse. No one chooses sorrow as company — so why are you in that company? Make the dark-one your kinsman instead. Empty the fragile places by releasing them. You have found a good foothold. The bhakti-claim is that the kinsman-choice is open: you can move your loyalty from the sorrowful-fragile-companies to the sāvaḷā kinsman directly. The fragility of the kṣaṇa-bhangura ṭhāva is itself the warrant for the move.
The verse
दुःखाची संगति । तिच्याठायीं कोण प्रीति ॥१॥
अवघें असो हें निराळें । करूं सोइरें सावळें ॥ध्रु.॥
क्षणभंगुर ते ठाव । करूनि सांडावे चि वाव ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बरा । ठाव पावलों हा थारा ॥३॥
Literal translation
The sangati (company) of duḥkha (sorrow) — who has prīti (love) for tichyāṭhāyīm (its place)? Let everything else be nirāḷē (apart); let us make sōyarē (kinsman) of the sāvaḷē (dark-one). The kṣaṇa-bhangura (instantly-fragile) places — karūnī sāṇḍāvē chi vāva (make them empty by sending them away). Tukā says: baravā — I have found this thāra (foothold).
What it means
A short choice-of-kinsman verse. Duḥkhāñcī sangati — tichyāṭhāyīm kōṇa prīti — the company of sorrow — who has love for that place? The opening rhetorical-question: no one chooses-sorrow-as-company; therefore choose differently.
The dhrūpada offers the alternative: avaghē asō hē nirāḷē — karūm sōyarē sāvaḷē — let everything else be apart; let us make kinsman of the dark-one. Sāvaḷē — the dark-blue-complexioned one (Viṭhṭhala, Krṣṇa) — affectionate-color-epithet. Sōyarē (kinsman-by-blood-or-marriage) is the warmest kinship-word. The choice: from-among-all-possible-companies, make-the-dark-one-kinsman.
The second verse names what to do with the fragile-places: kṣaṇa-bhangura tē ṭhāva — karūnī sāṇḍāvē chi vāva — the instantly-fragile places — make them empty (vāva) by sending them away (sāṇḍāvē). Vāva (empty-space) + sāṇḍāvē (send-away, discard) — the fragile-companies should be emptied by being-released.
The close: baravā — ṭhāva pāvalōm hā thārā — good — I have found this foothold. Thāra (foothold, secure standing) — the bhakta has arrived at a solid foothold. The baravā (good!) is the small celebration of arrival.
For someone today
A useful choice-of-kinsman verse. No one chooses sorrow as company — so why are you in that company? Make the dark-one your kinsman instead. Empty the fragile places by releasing them. You have found a good foothold. The bhakti-claim is that the kinsman-choice is open: you can move your loyalty from the sorrowful-fragile-companies to the sāvaḷā kinsman directly. The fragility of the kṣaṇa-bhangura ṭhāva is itself the warrant for the move.
Where this applies
- Audit of one's daily-company: who-here-has-love-for-sorrow's-place?
- Making the sāvaḷā (the dark-one, the central love) one's kinsman
- Emptying the kṣaṇa-bhangura (instantly-fragile) places by releasing them
- Recognizing arrival at a thāra (foothold) — the baravā of arrival