Abhanga 2850
Prīti-chiyā bōlā nāhī pesa-pāḍa — in the words of prīti (love), there is no pesa-pāḍa (formal measuring-out, finicky-particularity); bhalatasē gōḍa karōnī ghēī — make (them) gōḍa (good, sweet) (in) some-way and take.
The verse
प्रीतिचिया बोला नाहीं पेसपाड । भलतसें गोड करूनि घेईं ॥१॥
तैसें विठ्ठलराया तुज मज आहे । आवडीनें गायें नाम तुझें ॥ध्रु.॥
वेडे वांकडे बाळकाचे बोल । करिती नवल मायबाप ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुज येवो माझी दया । जीवींच्या सखया जिवलगा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Prīti-chiyā bōlā nāhī pesa-pāḍa — in the words of prīti (love), there is no pesa-pāḍa (formal measuring-out, finicky-particularity); bhalatasē gōḍa karōnī ghēī — make (them) gōḍa (good, sweet) (in) some-way and take. Taisē Viṭṭhal-rāyā tuja maja āhe — such (is the case), Viṭṭhal-rāyā, between you and me; āvaḍīne gāye nāma tujhe — lovingly I sing your Name. Vēḍe vānkaḍe bāḷakāñce bōla — vague (vēḍe), crooked (vānkaḍe) — the baby's words; karitī navala māyabāpa — the mother-father find them navala (wonderful, marvelous). Tukā says: tuja yēvō mājhī dayā — let your dayā come on me; jīvīñcyā sakhayā jīvalagā — O sakhā of (my) jīva, jīvalagā (dearest-to-jīva).
What it means
A short baby-talk-prema-prayer verse. Prīti-chiyā bōlā nāhī pesa-pāḍa — bhalatasē gōḍa karōnī ghēī — in the words of prīti, there is no pesa-pāḍa (formal measure) — make (them) good (any) way (you can). The opening-claim: prema-words don't require formal-grammatical-perfection; the loving-Lord makes-them-good-anyway.
Taisē Viṭṭhal-rāyā tuja maja āhe — āvaḍīne gāye nāma tujhe — such (is the case), Viṭṭhal-rāyā, between you and me — lovingly I sing your Name. The application: Viṭṭhal-rāyā, this is between-us-too — I-sing-with-love, you-take-as-good.
The dhrūpada has the canonical image: vēḍe vānkaḍe bāḷakāñce bōla — karitī navala māyabāpa — vague, crooked baby's words — mother-father find them wonderful. The image: a small-baby's vague-crooked-pronunciation is marveled-at by parents. Parents don't correct grammar; they delight-in-the-attempt. So-too, the Lord delights-in-the-bhakta's-imperfect-prema-utterances.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe tuja yēvō mājhī dayā — jīvīñcyā sakhayā jīvalagā — let your dayā come on me — O sakhā of (my) jīva, jīvalagā (dearest-to-jīva). The closing petition with the sakhya-jīvalagā triple-affection.
For someone today
A canonical baby-talk-prema-prayer. In the words of prīti there is no formal-measure — make (them) good (any) way. Such (is the case), Viṭṭhal-rāyā, between you and me — lovingly I sing your Name. Vague, crooked baby's words — mother-father find them wonderful. Let your dayā come on me — O sakhā of (my) jīva, jīvalagā. The verse offers a liberation from-the-anxiety of-grammatical-correctness in prema-prayer: the Lord doesn't require perfect-formulation; he-takes-imperfect-utterance-as-good, like-parents-with-a-baby. The diagnostic-image: baby's-vague-words are wonderful to parents. So is imperfect-prema to the Lord.
Where this applies
- The canonical baby-talk-prema is taken-as-good-by-the-Lord claim
- Recognizing the no-formal-measure in prema-words principle
- Baby's-crooked-words wonderful-to-parents mother-father image
- Liberation from anxiety-of-grammatical-correctness in prema-prayer