Abhanga 2722
Ēka ēkā sāhya karūm — let us help one-another; avaghe dharūm supantha — let us all hold the supantha (good-path).
The verse
एक एका साह्य करूं । अवघें धरूं सुपंथ ॥१॥
कोण जाणे कैसी परी । पुढें उरी ठेवितां ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघे धन्य होऊं आता । स्मरवितां स्मरण ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे अवघी जोडी । ते आवडा चरणांची ॥३॥
Literal translation
Ēka ēkā sāhya karūm — let us help one-another; avaghe dharūm supantha — let us all hold the supantha (good-path). Kōṇa jāṇē kaisī parī — who knows what kind — puḍhē urī ṭhevitām (what is left ahead, kept-reserved). Avaghe dhanya hōūm — all let us become blessed; smaravitām smaraṇa — in causing-each-other-to-remember (smaravitām), the smaraṇa (remembering) (happens). Tukā says: avaghī jōḍī tē āvaḍā charaṇāñcī — the whole joining is — the dear-feet.
What it means
A beautiful communal-encouragement verse. Ēka ēkā sāhya karūm — avaghe dharūm supantha — let us help one another — let us all hold the good-path. The communal-call: mutual-help on the good-path. The Vārkarī tradition is deeply communal, and this verse names that communal-foundation directly. Sāhya (help, support) is reciprocal — ēka ēkā (one to one). The supantha (good-path) is held avaghe (all together).
The dhrūpada acknowledges uncertainty: kōṇa jāṇē kaisī parī — puḍhē urī ṭhevitām — who knows what kind — what is left-reserved ahead. The future is opaque; we don't know what is reserved (urī) ahead. The mutual-help and good-path-holding are wise because of this uncertainty.
The second verse names a remarkable principle: avaghe dhanya hōūm — smaravitām smaraṇa — all becoming blessed; in causing-each-other-to-remember, smaraṇa (remembering) happens. The verb smaravitām (causing-to-remember, prompting) is the active form. Smaraṇa (remembering) — the central bhakti-practice — happens through mutual-prompting. This is the kīrtana principle in compressed form: we remind each other, and the remembering happens together.
The close: avaghī jōḍī tē āvaḍā charaṇāñcī — the whole joining is — the dear-feet. The destination of all the mutual-help, the good-path-holding, the smaravitām-smaraṇa — is āvaḍā charaṇāñcī (the dear-feet). The communal-effort has a single-destination.
For someone today
A beautiful template for communal-bhakti-encouragement. Let us help one another; let us all hold the good-path; who knows what is ahead; in causing-each-other-to-remember, remembering happens; the whole joining is the dear-feet. The principle smaravitām smaraṇa is especially useful — the practice of reminding each other is itself the practice of remembering. The Vārkarī's dindī (pilgrim-band) on the road to Pandharī enacts this: walking-together, singing-together, reminding-each-other — the smaraṇa arises from the smaravitām.
Where this applies
- Communal-bhakti-encouragement among companions on a shared path
- The smaravitām smaraṇa principle — remembering arises in mutual-prompting
- Let us all hold the good-path — communal-discipline
- Recognizing that the whole-joining is the dear-feet — single shared-destination