Abhanga 2760
A useful tender refuge-petition. Give me the joy of solitude — averting the blows on this jīva. Give me the rūpa in dhyāna and the nāma in vāchā constantly — don't let me forget. Give me the mother-child-meeting sweetness. I came on your fame — you do the welfare of your dāsa. I am a destitute heap-of-sin — put me behind your back, mother-father. The four-part-structure: (1) request for solitude with protection; (2) constant rūpa-and-nāma; (3) mother-child-meeting sweetness; (4) protective-shielding from behind. The image of ghālāve pāṭhīśī — put me behind your back — is the protective-shielding gesture parents use.
The verse
एकांतांचे सुख देई मज देवा । आघात या जीवा चुकवूनि ॥१॥
ध्यानीं रूप वाचे नाम निरंतर । आपुला विसर पडों नेदीं ॥ध्रु.॥
मायबाळा भेटी सुखाची आवडी । तैशी मज गोडी देई देवा ॥२॥
कीर्ती ऐकोनियां जालों शरणांगत । दासाचें तूं हित करितोसी ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे मी तों दीन पापराशी । घालावें पाठीशी मायबापा ॥४॥
Literal translation
Ekāntāñce sukha dēī maja Devā — give me the sukha (joy) of ekānta (solitude), Deva; āghāta yā jīvā chukavūnī — averting the āghāta (blows) on this jīva. Dhyānī rūpa vāche nāma nirantara — in dhyāna the rūpa, in vāchā the nāma — constantly; āpulā visara paḍōm nēdīm — don't let me forget āpulā (yours/self). Māyabāḷa bhēṭī sukhāñcī āvaḍī — the mother-child-meeting's sukha (joy) of love; taisī maja gōḍī dēī Devā — give me such gōḍī (sweetness), Deva. Kīrtī aikōniyām jālōm śaraṇāgata — having heard (your) kīrti (fame), I have become śaraṇāgata; dāsāñce tūm hita karitōsī — you do the hita (welfare) of (your) dāsa. Tukā says: mī tōm dīna pāpa-rāśī — I am a dīna (destitute) heap-of-sin; ghālāve pāṭhīśī māyabāpā — put (me) behind your pāṭhī (back), mother-father.
What it means
A tender petition-prayer. Ekāntāñce sukha dēī maja Devā — āghāta yā jīvā chukavūnī — give me the joy of solitude, Deva — averting the blows on this jīva. The petition for ekānta-sukha (joy-of-solitude) — a quieter-prayer-mode than the public-protests of 2748-2749. Āghāta yā jīvā chukavūnī — averting the blows on this jīva — solitude as protection-from-blows.
The dhrūpada: dhyānī rūpa vāche nāma nirantara — āpulā visara paḍōm nēdīm — in dhyāna, the rūpa; in vāchā, the nāma — constantly; don't let me forget yours/self. The pair: dhyāna-with-rūpa (form-in-meditation) + vāchā-with-nāma (Name-in-speech). The visara (forgetting) prevention is the petition. Āpulā (one's own / yours) — ambiguous but powerful: don't let me forget what is yours / what is mine in the relationship.
The second verse offers the affectionate-analogy: māyabāḷa bhēṭī sukhāñcī āvaḍī — taisī maja gōḍī dēī Devā — the mother-child-meeting's joy of love — give me such sweetness, Deva. The model is māyabāḷa bhēṭī (mother-child reunion). The bhakta asks for that very kind of gōḍī (sweetness). (Compare 2643's māyabāpāñcī bhēṭī — avaghyā tuṭī sankōchā.)
The third verse names the covenant: kīrtī aikōniyām jālōm śaraṇāgata — dāsāñce tūm hita karitōsī — having heard your fame, I have become refuge-taken; you do the welfare of your dāsa. The covenant-claim: I came on the strength of your fame (about doing the dāsa's welfare); therefore, you must do this for me too. (Compare 2714's aikilī kīrti santāñcyā vadanīm — therefore came.)
The close: mī tōm dīna pāpa-rāśī — ghālāve pāṭhīśī māyabāpā — I am a destitute heap-of-sin — put me behind your back, mother-father. The pāṭhīśī ghālāve (place behind your back) image is tender-protective: the mother places the child behind her body to shield from danger.
For someone today
A useful tender refuge-petition. Give me the joy of solitude — averting the blows on this jīva. Give me the rūpa in dhyāna and the nāma in vāchā constantly — don't let me forget. Give me the mother-child-meeting sweetness. I came on your fame — you do the welfare of your dāsa. I am a destitute heap-of-sin — put me behind your back, mother-father. The four-part-structure: (1) request for solitude with protection; (2) constant rūpa-and-nāma; (3) mother-child-meeting sweetness; (4) protective-shielding from behind. The image of ghālāve pāṭhīśī — put me behind your back — is the protective-shielding gesture parents use.
Where this applies
- The mother-child-meeting-joy template for refuge-prayer
- Asking for dhyāna-rūpa + vāchā-nāma simultaneity
- The I-came-on-your-fame; you-do-the-dāsa's-welfare covenant
- Put-me-behind-your-back-mother-father shielding-petition