Abhanga 2782
Kāmhī na māge kōṇāmsī — one who doesn't ask anything from anyone; tō chi āvaḍē Devāsī — he alone is loved by Deva.
The verse
कांहीं न मागे कोणांसी । तो चि आवडे देवासी ॥१॥
देव तयासी म्हणावें । त्याचे चरणीं लीन व्हावें ॥ध्रु.॥
भूतदया ज्याचे मनीं । त्याचे घरीं चक्रपाणी ॥२॥
नाहीं नाहीं त्यासमान । तुका म्हणे मी जमान ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kāmhī na māge kōṇāmsī — one who doesn't ask anything from anyone; tō chi āvaḍē Devāsī — he alone is loved by Deva. Deva tayāsī mhaṇāve — call him Deva (himself); tyāñce charaṇī līna vhāve — be at his feet līna (humble). Bhūta-dayā jyāñce manī — whose mind has bhūta-dayā (creature-compassion); tyāñce gharī Chakrapāṇī — Chakrapāṇi is in his house. Nāhī nāhī tyāsamāna — there is nothing, nothing like him; Tukā says: mī jamāna — I am the jamāna (witness, guarantor).
What it means
A celebrated 3-test character verse. Kāmhī na māge kōṇāmsī — tō chi āvaḍē Devāsī — one who doesn't ask anything from anyone — he alone is loved by Deva. The first test: non-asking. The bhakti-claim: the one who asks nothing from any-being is the one Deva loves.
The dhrūpada: Deva tayāsī mhaṇāve — tyāñce charaṇī līna vhāve — call him Deva (himself) — be at his feet humble. The recognition-claim: such a non-asker SHOULD BE CALLED Deva. The respect is total: be at his feet.
The second verse names the second-test: bhūta-dayā jyāñce manī — tyāñce gharī Chakrapāṇī — whose mind has bhūta-dayā (creature-compassion) — Chakrapāṇi is in his house. The Lord-comes-and-resides condition: bhūta-dayā in the mind brings Chakrapāṇi to the house. The presence-of-the-Lord depends on creature-compassion-in-the-host.
The close: nāhī nāhī tyāsamāna — Tukā mhaṇē mī jamāna — there is nothing, nothing like him — Tukā says — I am the witness. Jamāna — witness, guarantor, voucher. Tukārām personally-vouches for the claim. The doubled nāhī nāhī (nothing-nothing) emphasizes uniqueness.
The verse pairs two character-tests: non-asking and creature-compassion. Together they form the non-grasping + giving-to-creatures character. The Deva-loves and Chakrapāṇi-in-house are the rewards-of-these-two.
For someone today
A useful character-test prayer. One who asks nothing from anyone — Deva loves him. Call him Deva, be at his feet. Whose mind has bhūta-dayā — Chakrapāṇi is in his house. There's nothing like him — I am the witness. Two-fold-test for Deva-loved and Chakrapāṇi-host: (1) non-asking from any-being (no transactional-requests, no begging-from-mortals); (2) bhūta-dayā (creature-compassion) in the mind. The two-together produce the Deva-loved-Chakrapāṇi-resident state. The witness-claim — mī jamāna — Tukārām's personal-guarantee — gives the verse special-weight.
Where this applies
- The canonical Deva-loves-the-non-asker + creature-compassion-brings-Chakrapāṇi-home character-test
- Call-him-Deva recognition of the non-asker
- Be-at-his-feet-humble — the response to recognizing-the-Lord-in-the-non-asker
- Mī jamāna — Tukārām's personal-witness-guarantee