Abhanga 2722
When we remind each other to remember the divine, that mutual reminding is itself how remembering truly happens, and it leads us all to the same loving destination.
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 thesupantha(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 reminding each other, 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.
मराठी: हा एक सुंदर सामूहिक भक्ती-प्रोत्साहनाचा नमुना आहे. आपण एकमेकांना मदत करू; आपण सर्वजण सुपंथ धरून राहू; पुढे काय वाढून ठेवलंय हे कोणाला ठाऊक; एकमेकांना आठवण करून देताच स्मरण घडतं; सगळ्या जोडणीचं अंतिम स्थान म्हणजे प्रिय चरण. 'स्मरवितां स्मरण' हे तत्त्व विशेष उपयुक्त आहे — एकमेकांना आठवण करून देणं हीच स्वतः स्मरणाची साधना आहे. पंढरीच्या वाटेवरची वारकऱ्यांची दिंडी हेच प्रत्यक्षात आणते: एकत्र चालणं, एकत्र गाणं, एकमेकांना आठवण करून देणं — यातूनच स्मरण उगवतं.
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