Abhanga 2711
The verse offers the language for the puzzled-protest moment when the protector's familiar-pattern has reversed inexplicably. What fortune has come, I don't know. Your gait is upside-down. Truth-action has departed. My mind has witnessed the cry-of-need. With full power — are you acting without knowing? The bhakta does not pretend to understand the reversal; he names it honestly and asks the gentle-accusing question. The reservation of judgment is honest — I don't know what bhāga this is — but the observation is precise — truth-action has departed from your gait.
The verse
कां हो आलें नेणों भागा । पांडुरंगा माझिया ॥१॥
उफराटी तुम्हां चाली । क्रिया गेली सत्याची ॥ध्रु.॥
साक्षी हेंगे माझें मन । आर्त कोण होतें तें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे समर्थपणे । काय नेणें करीतसां ॥३॥
Literal translation
What bhāga (fortune) has come, I do not know — Pāṇḍurangā, mine. Your gait has gone upharāṭī (upside-down); the kriyā (action) of satya (truth) has gone. My mind is witness; what ārta (cry-of-need) was there. Tukā says: samartha-paṇē (in full-power) — what do you do without knowing?
What it means
A short puzzled-protest verse. Kā hō ālē nēṇōm bhāgā — Pāṇḍurangā mājhiyā — what fortune has come — I do not know — Pāṇḍurangā, mine. The bhakta cannot read the situation: what bhāga (fortune, share) has actually come? The verb nēṇōm (I do not know) acknowledges the bewilderment.
The dhrūpada delivers the sharp observation: uphraṭī tumhām chālī — kriyā gēlī satyāñcī — your gait has gone upside-down; the action of satya has gone. Upharāṭī chālī — gait reversed; the Lord's familiar-pattern is uphraṭī (turned-upside-down). Kriyā gēlī satyāñcī — the action of truth has departed. This is striking: the bhakta accuses the Lord of having let truth's-action depart.
The second verse names the witness-position: sākṣī hēnge mājhē mana — ārta kōṇa hōtē tē — my mind is witness; what cry-of-need was there. The bhakta's mind has witnessed the ārta (cry-of-need) — recorded it — and now testifies. The witness role is held by the bhakta's own mind here.
The close: samartha-paṇē — kāya nēṇē karītasām — with full-power, what do you do without knowing? The puzzlement: the Lord is samartha (all-powerful), and yet seems to act without knowing. This is gentle accusation: are you really samartha, or do you actually not know the case?
For someone today
The verse offers the language for the puzzled-protest moment when the protector's familiar-pattern has reversed inexplicably. What fortune has come, I don't know. Your gait is upside-down. Truth-action has departed. My mind has witnessed the cry-of-need. With full power — are you acting without knowing? The bhakta does not pretend to understand the reversal; he names it honestly and asks the gentle-accusing question. The reservation of judgment is honest — I don't know what bhāga this is — but the observation is precise — truth-action has departed from your gait.
Where this applies
- When the protector's familiar pattern has reversed inexplicably
- The kriyā-of-satya-has-gone observation as a diagnostic
- The mind-as-witness to one's own ārta (cry-of-need)
- The gentle accusation: with full-power, why act without knowing?