Abhanga 2748
Āmhī dētōm hākā — we are giving (calling-out) hākā (calls); kā re jālāsī tūm mukā — why have you become mukā (mute)?
The verse
आम्हीं देतों हाका । कां रे जालासी तूं मुका ॥१॥
न बोलसी नारायणा । कळलासी क्रियाहीना ॥ध्रु.॥
आधीं करूं चौघाचार। मग सांडूं भीडभार ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सेवटीं । तुम्हां आम्हां घालूं तुटी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Āmhī dētōm hākā — we are giving (calling-out) hākā (calls); kā re jālāsī tūm mukā — why have you become mukā (mute)? Na bōlasī Nārāyaṇā — you don't speak, Nārāyaṇa; kaḷalāsī kriyā-hīnā — you have been known as kriyā-hīna (action-less). Ādhīm karūm chaughāchāra — first let us do the chaughāchāra (four-corners-investigation, public-arbitration); mag sāṇḍūm bhīḍa-bhāra — then drop the bhīḍa-bhāra (burden of modesty). Tukā says: sēvaṭīm — tumhām āmhām ghālūm tuṭī — in the end — between you and us, let us ghālūm tuṭī (cause-a-break).
What it means
A combative protest-verse. Āmhī dētōm hākā — kā re jālāsī tūm mukā — we are calling out — why have you gone mute? The protest: the bhakta is calling; the Lord is silent. Kā re (hey, why) — the familiar-but-edgy tone of the protest.
The dhrūpada gives the implicit-accusation: na bōlasī Nārāyaṇā — kaḷalāsī kriyāhīnā — you don't speak, Nārāyaṇa — you have been known as kriyā-hīna (action-less). The result of the silence: a public-reputation as kriyā-hīna (one-who-does-not-act). The bhakta is warning: your silence damages your reputation.
The second verse threatens public-arbitration: ādhīm karūm chaughāchāra — mag sāṇḍūm bhīḍa-bhāra — first let us do the chaughāchāra (four-corners-investigation, the public-arbitration before village-elders); then drop the bhīḍa-bhāra (burden of modesty/diffidence). Chaughāchāra — four-cornered-action — is the formal public-arbitration where village elders sit at the four corners of a square and adjudicate disputes. The bhakta proposes this for his case-with-the-Lord. Bhīḍa-bhāra — burden of modesty/embarrassment — would be dropped if the case reaches this stage.
The close: sēvaṭīm — tumhām āmhām ghālūm tuṭī — in the end — between you and us, let us cause a break. Tuṭī — break, breach, rupture. The bhakta threatens relational-rupture as the ultimate-consequence of continued silence.
For someone today
A useful template for the call-out-the-silence protest-prayer. We are calling out — why have you gone mute? You don't speak; you are now known as action-less. First let's go to public-arbitration; then drop the modesty-burden. In the end — let us cause a break between us. The verse permits combative-protest within the relationship. The threat-of-tuṭī (break) is not abandonment-of-the-relationship; it is a high-stakes-warning within it. Compare 2710's why-have-you-become-like-Kali-age — same register of combative-relational-protest.
Where this applies
- Call-out-the-Lord's-silence protest-prayer
- Threatening public-arbitration if private-petition isn't heard
- Dropping modesty-burden when relationship is at stake
- The high-stakes-warning of causing-a-break