Abhanga 2739
A useful template for the prayer that says only Hari takes this on. Who other than Hari knows the struggle of the destitute who has come for refuge? Without you, Jagadīśa, who has this generous mark in the three worlds? Who removes sin like this — Hari removes the heat of birth? You rush to my side; whose gait is in my mind? The series of rhetorical questions builds toward the conclusion that Hari is uniquely suited to this work. The closing self-test — whose gait is in my mind? — inverts the question, turning it back on oneself: whose pattern do I actually carry in my attention?
The verse
कोण दुजें हरी सीण । शरण दीन आल्याचा ॥१॥
तुम्हांविण जगदीशा । उदार ठसा त्रिभुवनीं ॥ध्रु.॥
कोण ऐसें वारी पाप । हरी ताप जन्माचा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धांव घाली । कोण चाली मनाचे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kōṇa dujē Harī sīṇa — who-other-than Hari (knows) thesīṇa(struggle, suffering); śaraṇa dīna ālyāñcā — of thedīna(destitute) who has come for refuge. Tumhāmvīṇa Jagadīśa — without you, Jagadīśa; udāra ṭhasā tribhuvanīm — (who has) theudāra(generous)ṭhasā(imprint, stamp) in the three-worlds. Kōṇa aisē vārī pāpa — who removes sin like this?; Harī tāpa janmāñca — (only) Hari (removes) thetāpa(heat) of birth. Tukā says: dhāmva ghālī — (you) run-place yourself (rush); kōṇa chālī manāñce — whosechālī(gait) is in (my) mind?
What it means
A short canonical-claim verse. Kōṇa dujē Harī sīṇa — śaraṇa dīna ālyāñcā — who other-than-Hari (knows) the struggle — of the destitute who has come for refuge? The rhetorical question establishes Hari's-uniqueness as the-knower-of-the-refuge-taker's-struggle. No one else can do this work.
The dhrūpada: tumhāmvīṇa Jagadīśa — udāra ṭhasā tribhuvanīm — without you, Jagadīśa — who has theudāra(generous) imprint in the three-worlds? Another rhetorical: without you, what other generous-mark exists in the three-worlds? The udāra (generous) stamp is uniquely Hari's.
The second verse: kōṇa aisē vārī pāpa — Harī tāpa janmāñca — who removes sin like this? Hari removes the heat of birth. The third rhetorical-question. Only Hari can vārī (fan-away, dispel) sin; only Hari can dispel the janma-tāpa (heat-of-birth, the burning-of-samsāra).
The close: dhāmva ghālī — kōṇa chālī manāñce — you run-place yourself; whosechālī(gait) is in my mind? The dhrūpada's-running-image returns: you rush. And the question: whose gait is in my mind? — i.e., who else's gait could my mind hold? — implying only your gait, Hari.
For someone today
A useful template for the prayer that says only Hari takes this on. Who other than Hari knows the struggle of the destitute who has come for refuge? Without you, Jagadīśa, who has this generous mark in the three worlds? Who removes sin like this — Hari removes the heat of birth? You rush to my side; whose gait is in my mind? The series of rhetorical questions builds toward the conclusion that Hari is uniquely suited to this work. The closing self-test — whose gait is in my mind? — inverts the question, turning it back on oneself: whose pattern do I actually carry in my attention?
मराठी: 'फक्त हरीच हे स्वीकारतो' अशा ठाम प्रार्थनेचा हा एक उपयुक्त नमुना आहे. शरण आलेल्या दीनाची तळमळ हरीशिवाय आणखी कोण जाणतो? जगदीशा, तुझ्याशिवाय त्रिभुवनात हा उदार ठसा आणखी कोणाकडे आहे? असं पाप कोण दूर करतो — हरीच जन्माचा ताप हरण करतो? तू धावत माझ्याकडे येतोस; माझ्या मनात कोणाची चाल रेंगाळते? या मालिकेतले प्रश्न हळूहळू एका निष्कर्षाकडे नेतात: हे काम फक्त हरीलाच शोभतं. शेवटचा आत्मपरीक्षणाचा प्रश्न — माझ्या मनात कोणाची चाल आहे? — हाच प्रश्न स्वतःकडे वळवतो: माझ्या लक्षात खरंच कोणाचा ठसा रुतलेला आहे?
Where this applies
- When you feel so broken that you doubt anyone could truly understand your struggle
- When you are counting on someone's generosity to see you through a hard time
- When guilt or shame keeps weighing you down and you wonder if it can ever lift
- When you catch yourself distracted and want to check where your attention actually lives