Abhanga 2805
Loving intimacy with God can turn the usual order upside down, and that very reversal becomes the source of great fortune.
The verse
माझे पाय तुझी डोईं । ऐसें करिं गा भाक देई ॥१॥
पाहतां तंव उफराटें । घडे तईं भाग्य मोठें ॥ध्रु.॥
बहु साधन मोलाच । यासी जोडा दुजें कैचें ॥२॥
नका अनमानूं विठ्ठला । तुका म्हणे धडा जाला ॥३॥
Literal translation
Mājhe pāya tujhī ḍōīm — my feet — your head; aise karīm gā — bhāka deī — do thus — give thebhāka(promise). Pāhātām tanva upharāṭē — looking thus —upharāṭe(upside-down); ghaḍe taī bhāgya mōṭhe — happens then — greatbhāgya(fortune). Bahu sādhana mōlāñca — manysādhana(paths) ofmōla(price); yāsī jōḍā dujē kaiñce — how to join thedujē(second, another)? Tukā says: nakā anamānūm Viṭhṭhala — don'tanamānūm(refuse, hesitate-and-decline), Viṭhṭhala; dhaḍā jālā — thedhaḍā(verdict, settled-thing) has been made.
What it means
A striking upside-down-relationship request-prayer. Mājhe pāya tujhī ḍōīm — aise karīm gā bhāka deī — my feet, your head — do thus — give the promise. The image is unusual: my-feet-(on)-your-head — the bhakta's-feet on the Lord's-head. This is the upside-down arrangement. The bhakta asks the Lord to give the bhāka (promise) of this arrangement.
The dhrūpada: pāhātām tanva upharāṭē — ghaḍe taī bhāgya mōṭhe — looking — (it appears) upside-down — happens then — great fortune. The acknowledgment: yes, this looks upside-down (conventionally, the bhakta's-head is at the Lord's-feet, not vice-versa). But when this upside-down arrangement happens, great-fortune occurs.
The second verse: bahu sādhana mōlāñca — yāsī jōḍā dujē kaiñce — there are many sādhana of price — how to join the second (to it)? The other-paths-of-spiritual-discipline are expensive (mōlāñca = costly). The bhakta asks: how would one even add the second (or, join one to another)? The bhakti-shortcut bypasses-the-cost.
The close: nakā anamānūm Viṭhṭhala — dhaḍā jālā — don't refuse-and-decline, Viṭhṭhala — the verdict has been made. Anamānūm (refuse, decline, demur). Dhaḍā — settled-decision, verdict, fixed-arrangement. The bhakta claims: the verdict is already-in; don't refuse it.
For someone today
This is a bold, unusual prayer that turns the normal hierarchy upside down. Tukaram asks God directly to place his own feet upon God's head, an image that reverses the customary posture where the devotee bows at the Lord's feet. He admits it looks backwards, yet insists that exactly this reversal is where great fortune comes from. He contrasts this with the many costly, elaborate spiritual disciplines out there, asking how anything else could even compare, since this bond with God does not require that price. He closes by telling Vitthala not to refuse, because as far as he is concerned the matter is already settled, God is carrying him, not the other way around.
मराठी: हा एक धाडसी आणि असामान्य अभंग आहे, जो नेहमीची उतरंड उलटवून टाकतो. तुकाराम देवालाच थेट सांगतात की माझे पाय तुझ्या डोक्यावर ठेव — भक्त नेहमी देवाच्या चरणी नतमस्तक होतो, या रूढ प्रतिमेच्या अगदी उलट. हे उफराटे दिसते हे ते मान्य करतात, तरीही हाच उलटेपणा मोठे भाग्य घडवून आणतो असे ते ठामपणे सांगतात. यासोबत ते इतर अनेक महाग आणि किचकट साधनांशी तुलना करतात — जेव्हा हे नाते इतक्या किमतीशिवाय मिळते, तेव्हा त्यांच्याशी तुलना कशी होणार? शेवटी ते विठ्ठलाला नकार न देण्यास सांगतात, कारण त्यांच्या मते हा निर्णय आधीच झालेला आहे — आता देवच त्यांना आपल्यावर पेलून धरतो आहे, उलट नव्हे.
Where this applies
- When you feel embarrassed that your closeness with God or with someone you love does not follow the expected hierarchy
- When you are tempted to think spiritual growth requires expensive or elaborate practices
- When you want to trust a promise as already settled instead of something you still have to earn
- When intimacy with the divine feels almost too bold or familiar to admit