Abhanga 2808
Baḷivanta karma — karī āpulā tō dharma — powerful karma — does its own dharma (rule).
The verse
बळिवंत कर्म । करी आपुला तो धर्म ॥१॥
पुढें घालुनियां सत्ता । न्यावें पतना पतिता ॥ध्रु.॥
आचरणें खोटीं । केलीं सलताती पोटीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देवा । नाहीं भजन केली सेवा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Baḷivanta karma — karī āpulā tō dharma — powerful karma — does its own dharma (rule). Puḍhe ghālunīyām sattā — putting (its own) sattā (authority) forward; nyāve patanā patitā — carries the patita (fallen) to patana (fall, downfall). Ācharaṇe khoṭīm — kelīm salatātī pōṭīm — the ācharaṇa (conduct) (was) false — has become salatātī pōṭī (stinging in the belly). Tukā says: Devā — nāhīm bhajana kelī sevā — Deva — no bhajana was done, no sevā.
What it means
A short honest-acknowledgment verse. Baḷivanta karma — karī āpulā tō dharma — powerful karma does its own dharma (rule, function). The acknowledgment: karma is powerful, and it acts according-to-its-own-rule; it doesn't ask-the-bhakta's-permission.
The dhrūpada: puḍhe ghālunīyām sattā — nyāve patanā patitā — putting (its) authority forward, (karma) carries the patita (fallen) to patana (downfall). The mechanism: karma puts forward its sattā (authority) and carries those-already-fallen further-downward.
The second verse: ācharaṇe khoṭīm — kelīm salatātī pōṭīm — the (own) conduct is false — has become stinging-in-the-belly. The bhakta acknowledges: my own ācharaṇa is khōṭā (false-fake); it has produced a salatātī-pōṭī (stinging-in-the-belly) somatic-symptom. The bhakta's-conduct itself produces the inner-distress.
The close: Devā — nāhīm bhajana kelī sevā — Deva — no bhajana was done, no sevā was done. The plain-confession: I have done neither bhajan nor sevā. The honesty-without-pretense.
For someone today
A useful honest-acknowledgment template. Powerful karma does its own dharma; puts authority forward and carries the fallen to fall. My conduct was false — stinging in the belly. Deva — no bhajana, no sevā was done. The verse permits plain-confession. The salatātī pōṭī (stinging-in-the-belly) is the somatic-marker that one can use as a diagnostic: if the belly is stinging from one's own conduct, the ācharaṇa is khōṭā. The remedy is honest-confession, not pretense.
Where this applies
- The I-failed-the-bhajan-sevā honest acknowledgment
- Recognizing karma's-own-dharma operating-with-authority
- The somatic-marker: stinging-in-the-belly from false-conduct
- Plain confession without pretense