Abhanga 2838
Kāsayā gā maja ghātalē samsārī — why have (you) cast me into samsāra; chitta pāyāmvarī nāhī tujhyā — (my) chitta is not at your feet.
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 into samsāra; 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) your nitya-nava (ever-fresh) prema is not (in me). Nāmāviṇa mājhī vāchā amangaḷa — without Nāma, my vāchā (speech) is amangaḷa (un-auspicious); aisā kām chāṇḍāḷa nirmiyele — why was such a chāṇḍāḷa (degraded one) nirmiyele (created, fashioned)? Tukā says: mājhī jaḷō jaḷō kāyā — my body — burn, burn; Viṭhṭhalā sakhayā vāñchūnīyām — without Viṭṭhala the sakhā (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
- The canonical body-burns-without-Viṭṭhala yearning-lament
- Recognizing amangaḷa-vāchā-without-Nāma claim
- Nitya-nava-prema as the bhakti-ideal
- The extreme-protest-prayer template