Abhanga 2706
The udaya (rising, dawning) of bhāgya (fortune) — is this jōḍī (joining) with santa-pāya (sant-feet).
The verse
भाग्याचा उदय । ते हे जोडी संतपाय ॥१॥
येथूनिया नुठो माथा । मरणांवाचूनि सर्वथा ॥ध्रु.॥
होई बळकट । माझ्या मना तूं रे धीट ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे लोटांगणीं । भक्तिभाग्यें जाली धणी ॥३॥
Literal translation
The udaya (rising, dawning) of bhāgya (fortune) — is this jōḍī (joining) with santa-pāya (sant-feet). From here let the māthā (head) not uṭhō (rise) — never, until maraṇa (death). Hōī baḷakaṭa — mājhyā manā tūm rē dhīṭa — be strong, my mind, be bold. Tukā says: by lōṭāngaṇī (full-body prostration), bhakti-bhāgya (bhakti-fortune) has jālī dhaṇī (become quenched/filled-completely).
What it means
A short, celebrated bhāgya-equation verse. Bhāgyāñcā udaya — tē hē jōḍī santa-pāya — the rise of fortune is — this joining with sant-feet. The simple equation: fortune-rising = joining-with-sant-feet. There is no other bhāgya-udaya — only this. The implication: people who look-for-fortune-elsewhere are looking in the wrong place.
The dhrūpada: yēthūniyā nuṭhō māthā — maraṇāvāñcūnī sarvathā — from here let the head not rise — never, not until death. The commitment is total-and-final: the head at the sant-feet, never to rise except by death. Maraṇāvāñcūnī sarvathā — not at all except by death. (And even death will be the rising-with-mukti, not the rising-from-the-feet in defection.)
The second verse: hōī baḷakaṭa — mājhyā manā tūm rē dhīṭa — be strong, my mind, be bold. The mind-strengthening direct-address: tūm rē — the affectionate you to one's own mind. The commitment requires the mind to be baḷakaṭa (strong) and dhīṭa (bold).
The close: lōṭāngaṇī bhakti-bhāgyē jālī dhaṇī — by lōṭāngaṇī (full-body prostration), the bhakti-fortune has filled-completely. Lōṭāngaṇa — throwing the whole body flat in prostration — is the maximum-bow gesture. The bhakti-bhāgya — bhakti-fortune — has jālī dhaṇī (become fully-quenched, filled-to-satisfaction).
For someone today
The verse offers a clean foundational-equation: if you want to know what bhāgya-udaya looks like, find the sant-feet and join your head to them — and don't lift the head until death. The condition is total. The be-strong-my-mind-be-bold admonition is necessary because the commitment is taxing — one is asking one's own mind to hold this discipline. And the lōṭāngaṇī fills the bhakti-bhāgya: the prostration is not loss-of-dignity; it is the gesture that quenches the bhakti-fortune. The maximum-bow is the maximum-receiving.
Where this applies
- The canonical bhāgya = santa-pāya equation
- The till-death-let-head-not-rise commitment to sant-feet
- Mind-strengthening directly: be strong, my mind, be bold
- The lōṭāngaṇī-quenches-bhakti-fortune gesture