Abhanga 2824
Kāya nāhī mātā gauravīt bāḷā — what does the mother not (do) — gauravīt (honoring) the baby?; kāya nāhī laḷā pāḷīta te — what laḷā (cherishing) does she not pāḷīta (perform)?
The verse
काय नाहीं माता गौरवीत बाळा । काय नाहीं लळा पाळीत ते ॥१॥
काय नाहीं त्याची करीत ते सेवा । काय नाहीं जीवा गोमटें तें ॥ध्रु.॥
अमंगळपणें कांटाळा न धरी । उचलोनि करीं कंठीं लावी ॥२॥
लेववी आपुले अंगें अळंकार । संतोषाये फार देखोनियां ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे स्तुति योग्य नाहीं परी । तुम्हां लाज थोरी अंकिताची ॥४॥
Literal translation
Kāya nāhī mātā gauravīt bāḷā — what does the mother not (do) — gauravīt (honoring) the baby?; kāya nāhī laḷā pāḷīta te — what laḷā (cherishing) does she not pāḷīta (perform)? Kāya nāhī tyāñci karīt te sevā — what does she not do in his sevā?; kāya nāhī jīvā gōmaṭe te — what is not gōmaṭe (cherished, sweet) in (her) jīva (life)? Amangaḷa-paṇē kāmṭāḷā na dharī — she does not hold kāmṭāḷā (disgust, repulsion) by (the baby's) amangaḷa-paṇa (un-cleanness); uchalōnī karī kaṇṭhī lāvī — lifting (the baby) with hand, she clasps (him) at the kaṇṭha (neck, throat). Levavī āpule ange aḷankāra — with her own anga (body), she levavī (dresses) (him) in aḷankāra (ornaments); santōṣāye phāra dekhōnīyām — by very-much santōṣa (contentment), seeing (him). Tukā says: stuti yōgya nāhī parī — (I am) not stuti-yōgya (praise-worthy), but; tumhām lāja thōrī ankitāñcī — you have great lāja (modesty-shame-pride) for (your) ankita (marked-as-yours).
What it means
A tender mother-Lord-and-bhakta-baby meditation verse. Four-fold rhetorical kāya nāhī (what doesn't (she)) — establishing the mother's full-care-of-the-baby.
1: Mother honors the baby (gauravīt bāḷā) — even though the baby is dependent and unable, the mother honors him.
2: Mother cherishes-and-pampers (laḷā pāḷīta) — the mother does laḷā (cherishing, affectionate-spoiling) repeatedly.
3: Mother does all-his-sevā — bathing, feeding, dressing, cleaning.
4: Everything in her life is sweet-in-relation-to-him (kāya nāhī jīvā gōmaṭe) — her jīva is centered-on-him.
The dhrūpada-extension: amangaḷa-paṇē kāmṭāḷā na dharī — uchalōnī karī kaṇṭhī lāvī — she doesn't hold disgust at the baby's un-cleanness — she lifts (him) and clasps (him) at the neck. The baby is amangaḷa (un-clean, dirty with food, etc.); the mother does not feel kāmṭāḷā (disgust). She uchalōnī (lifts-with-care) and kaṇṭhī-lāvī (clasps-at-the-neck — the throat-embrace).
The ornaments-image: levavī āpule ange aḷankāra — santōṣāye phāra dekhōnīyām — with her own body she dresses him in ornaments — very-contented seeing him. Āpule ange — with her own body — meaning with her own hand, with personal effort. She levavī (dresses, decorates) him in aḷankāra (ornaments). And santōṣāye phāra dekhōnīyām — very-content, seeing-him. The mother's-satisfaction is in seeing the adorned child.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe — stuti yōgya nāhī parī — tumhām lāja thōrī ankitāñcī — I am not stuti-yōgya (praise-worthy), but you have great lāja (modesty-shame-pride) for (your) ankita (marked-as-yours). The bhakta's praise-unworthiness is not the operative-fact; the Lord's-lāja-thōrī-for-his-ankita (great-pride-as-mother-figure for those-marked-as-his) is. The Lord-as-mother is proud-of (in the mother-bhakta sense) those he has ankita-marked-as-his.
For someone today
A tender mother-Lord meditation. What doesn't the mother do — honoring the baby? She cherishes-and-pampers, does all his sevā, everything in her life is sweet in relation to him. She doesn't feel disgust at his un-cleanness — lifts and clasps at the neck. With her own body she dresses him in ornaments — very-content seeing him. I am not praise-worthy — but you have great pride for those marked-as-yours. The verse offers a complete mother-portrait and applies it to the Lord's-mother-care-of-the-bhakta. The diagnostic-test: do I think the Lord feels kāmṭāḷā (disgust) at my amangaḷa-paṇa? — No, the mother doesn't. The closing-warrant: the Lord's-lāja-for-his-ankita is great — that is, the Lord cares-fiercely-about how-his-marked-ones-appear, in the protective-mother way.
Where this applies
- Tender mother-Lord meditation
- Recognizing the Lord-as-mother does all-these-things-for-the-bhakta
- Your-pride-for-your-marked-ones — the Lord's-sense-of-shame for his own
- The no-disgust-at-un-cleanness; lifts-and-clasps mother-image