Abhanga 2838
Tukārām's raw protest prayer says a life or speech without genuine love for God feels empty, and it gives permission to bring that raw yearning and frustration straight to the divine.
The verse
कासया गा मज घातलें संसारीं । चत्ति पायांवरी नाहीं तुझ्या ॥१॥
कासया गा मज घातलें या जन्मा । नाहीं तुझा प्रेमा नित्य नवा ॥ध्रु.॥
नामाविण माझी वाचा अमंगळ । ऐसा कां चांडाळ निमिऩयेलें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझी जळो जळो काया । विठ्ठला सखया वांचूनियां ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kāsayā gā maja ghātalē samsārī — why have (you) cast me intosamsāra; chitta pāyāmvarī nāhī tujhyā — (my) chitta is not at your feet. Kāsayā gā maja ghātalē yā janmā — why have (you) cast me into this birth; nāhī tujhā premā nitya navā — (when) yournitya-nava(ever-fresh) prema is not (in me). Nāmāviṇa mājhī vāchā amangaḷa — without Nāma, myvāchā(speech) isamangaḷa(un-auspicious); aisā kām chāṇḍāḷa nirmiyele — why was such achāṇḍāḷa(degraded one)nirmiyele(created, fashioned)? Tukā says: mājhī jaḷō jaḷō kāyā — my body — burn, burn; Viṭhṭhalā sakhayā vāñchūnīyām — without Viṭṭhala thesakhā(friend-companion).
What it means
A short extreme-yearning-lament verse. Kāsayā gā maja ghātalē samsārī — chitta pāyāmvarī nāhī tujhyā — why cast me in samsāra — (my) chitta is not at your feet. The opening-lament: if I am to be in samsāra, why was I not also given chitta-at-your-feet?
Kāsayā gā maja ghātalē yā janmā — nāhī tujhā premā nitya navā — why cast me in this birth — (when) your nitya-nava prema is not (in me)? The bhakti-ideal: nitya-nava prema (ever-fresh love). If the bhakta doesn't have nitya-nava prema, this birth is futile.
Nāmāviṇa mājhī vāchā amangaḷa — aisā kām chāṇḍāḷa nirmiyele — without Nāma, my speech is amangaḷa — why was such a chāṇḍāḷa created? The radical self-naming: my-speech-without-Nāma is amangaḷa (un-auspicious, polluting). And: I am a chāṇḍāḷa (degraded one) for having been-created at-all without-Nāma.
The close: mājhī jaḷō jaḷō kāyā — Viṭhṭhalā sakhayā vāñchūnīyām — my body — burn, burn — without Viṭṭhala the sakhā. The petition: let my body burn-to-ash — without Viṭṭhala, what is its use?
For someone today
A useful extreme-yearning-lament. Why have you cast me in samsāra — (my) chitta is not at your feet. Why this birth — your nitya-nava prema is not (in me). Without Nāma, my speech is un-auspicious — why was such a chāṇḍāḷa created? My body — burn, burn — without Viṭṭhala the sakhā. The verse permits the extreme-yearning protest-prayer — saying if I am to be without your love, let me burn. The diagnostic-claim: speech-without-Nāma is amangaḷa; body-without-Viṭṭhala-sakhya is fit-to-burn.
Where this applies
- When you feel spiritually empty or disconnected despite going through the motions of faith
- When you're frustrated or even angry with God and don't know if it's okay to say so
- When your prayers or words feel hollow because your heart isn't really in them
- When you're craving a love that feels fresh and alive rather than routine or habitual