Abhanga 2732
A true guide speaks from their own knowledge of what is good for you, and when you place your heart in such hands, gratitude, not resistance, is the right response.
The verse
भल्याचें कारण सांगावें स्वहित । जैसी कळे नीत आपणासी ॥१॥
परी आम्ही असों एकाचिये हातीं । नाचवितो चित्ती त्याचें तैसें ॥ध्रु.॥
वाट सांगे त्याच्या पुण्या नाहीं पार । होती उपकार अगणित ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुम्ही बहु कृपावंत । आपुलें उचित केलें संतीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Bhalyāñcē kāraṇa sāngāve sva-hita — thebhalā(good-one) should tell his ownsva-hita(self-welfare); jaisī kaḷē nīta āpaṇāsī — as thenīta(right-way) is known to him. Parī āmhī asōm ēkāñcyā hātīm — but we are inēkāñcyā hātīm(in one's hands); nāchavitō chittī tyāñce taisē — he dances (nāchavitō) the chitta as he wishes. Vāṭa sāngē tyāñcyā puṇyā nāhī pāra — the way-teller'spuṇyahas no end; hōtī upakāra agaṇita — countless are theupakāra(benefits, favors). Tukā says: tumhī bahu krpāvanta — āpulē uchita kelē santīm — you (sants) are very compassionate — you have done theuchita(fitting) for us.
What it means
A short gratitude-acknowledgment verse. Bhalyāñcē kāraṇa sāngāve sva-hita — jaisī kaḷē nīta āpaṇāsī — the good-one should tell his own self-welfare — as the right-way is known to him. The opening: the good-one tells his sva-hita — his own welfare-knowledge is the kāraṇa (cause, basis) of the telling. He tells from his own knowing.
The dhrūpada: āmhī asōm ēkāñcyā hātīm — nāchavitō chittī tyāñce taisē — we are in one's hands — he dances the chitta as he wishes. The receiving-position is named: we are in his hand — the good-one (or perhaps the Lord, or the sants) holds us, and nāchavitō chittī — dances the chitta — as he wishes. The chitta is the puppet; the bhalā is the puppeteer.
The second verse names the result: vāṭa sāngē tyāñcyā puṇyā nāhī pāra — hōtī upakāra agaṇita — the way-teller has no end to his puṇya — countless benefits arise. The vāṭa-sāngē (way-teller) — the one who tells the way — has no-end of puṇya. The benefits (upakāra) he produces are agaṇita (uncountable).
The close is a direct address to the sants: tumhī bahu krpāvanta — āpulē uchita kelē santīm — you are very compassionate — you have done the fitting for us. The bhakta thanks the sants — tumhī santīm — for doing the fitting on his behalf.
For someone today
A useful gratitude-prayer for those who teach the way. The good-one tells his own self-welfare as he knows the right-way; we are in his hand and he dances the chitta as he wishes; the way-teller has no-end of puṇya, countless benefits; you sants are very compassionate, you have done the fitting for us. The diagnostic of the bhalā: he tells his own sva-hita; he doesn't perform for our benefit, he just tells; his telling-as-overflow becomes our way-finding. The acknowledgment of being nāchavitō chittī — the chitta is being-danced — is also instructive: we are not the autonomous-agents of our own attention; the good-one moves us. Receive that movement and acknowledge it as gift.
Where this applies
- Gratitude-prayer to those who teach the way — sants, elders, mentors
- Recognizing that our chitta is being-danced by those-greater
- The vāṭa-sāngē (way-teller) as the no-end-puṇya benefactor
- The acknowledgment: you have done the fitting for us