संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2775 of 4582

Abhanga 2775

Total trust can feel like it drowned everything you had, leaving you honestly asking how God will make sense of it in the end.

The wry close: how have you completed the puzzle?

The verse

उचिताचा भाग होतों राखोनियां । दिसती ते वांयां कष्ट गेले ॥१॥ वचनाची कांहीं राहे चि ना रुचि । खळाऐसें वाची कुची जालें ॥ध्रु.॥ विश्वासानें माझें बुडविलें घर । करविला धीर येथवरी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे शेकीं थार नाहीं बुड । कैसें तुम्हीं कोड पुरविलें ॥३॥

Literal translation

Uchitāñcā bhāga hōtōm rākhōniyāmI was preserving (rākhōnī) myuchita-bhāga(fitting-share); disatī tē vāyām kaṣṭa gēlēit appears (disatī) thekaṣṭa(effort) has gonevāyām(vain). Vachanāñcī kāmhī rāhē chi nā ruchitheruchi(taste) of the words doesn't remain; khaḷā-aisē vāchī kuchī jālēlike akhaḷā(wicked one), myvāchī(speech) has becomekuchī(sour). Viśvāsānē mājhē buḍavilē gharatrust drowned my house; karavilā dhīra yēthavarīyou made (me) carry patience this far. Tukā says: śenkī thāra nāhī buḍaat the end (śenkī), there is nothāra(foothold) — nobuḍa(foundation); kaisē tumhī kōḍa puravilehow have you (puravile) completed thekōḍa(puzzle/riddle)?

What it means

A short honest-disclosure-petition verse. Uchitāñcā bhāga hōtōm rākhōniyām — disatī tē vāyām kaṣṭa gēlēI was preserving my fitting-share — it appears the effort has gone vain. The bhakta acknowledges: he was-preserving (rākhōnī) what uchita (fitting) for him — but the kaṣṭa (effort) has gone vāyām (vain).

The dhrūpada: vachanāñcī kāmhī rāhē chi nā ruchi — khaḷā-aisē vāchī kuchī jālēthe taste of the words doesn't remain; like a wicked one, my speech has become sour. The somatic-spiritual effect: the words have lost taste. Vāchī kuchī jālēspeech has become sour — as if the bhakta has become khaḷā (wicked) in his speech-quality, despite his intentions.

The second verse names the engine: viśvāsānē mājhe buḍavile ghara — karavilā dhīra yēthavarītrust drowned my house; you made me carry patience this far. The striking-claim: viśvāsa (trust) ITSELF drowned-the-house. The trust the bhakta had placed in the Lord became the house-drowner. Karavilā dhīra yēthavarīyou made me carry patience this far — and the patience-carrying has been your-doing.

The close: śenkī thāra nāhī buḍa — kaise tumhī kōḍa puravileat the end, no foothold, no foundation — how have you completed the puzzle? Kōḍa puravilecompleted the puzzle/riddle. The wry-question: given that there is no foothold at the end, how have YOU completed this puzzle? The implication: the puzzle is yours to complete; my position is foothold-less.

For someone today

A useful honest-disclosure prayer. I was preserving the fitting-share — it went vain. The taste of my words has gone — my speech has become sour. Trust drowned my house — you made me carry patience this far. There is no foothold at the end — how have you completed the puzzle? The verse is unusual in its disclosure: trust itself was the destroyer. The bhakti-claim is that the trust the Lord required was so total that it drowned the house — and yet the bhakta was made to carry-patience. The puzzle of bhakti-economy. The wry-close: how YOU have completed it — I can't see.

Where this applies