Abhanga 2858
Uśīra kām kelā — why have (you) done uśīra (delay); krpāḷuvā Viṭhṭhalā — compassionate Viṭhṭhal.
The verse
उशीर कां केला । कृपाळुवा विठ्ठला ॥१॥
मज दिलें कोणा हातीं । काय मानिली निश्चिंती ॥ध्रु.॥
कोठवरी धरूं धीर । आतां मन करूं स्थिर ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जीव । ऐसी भाकितसे कींव ॥३॥
Literal translation
Uśīra kām kelā — why have (you) done uśīra (delay); krpāḷuvā Viṭhṭhalā — compassionate Viṭhṭhal. Maja dile kōṇā hātī — into whose hand have (you) given me; kāya mānilī niścintī — what niścintī (certainty, ease-of-mind) have (you) taken? Kōṭhavarī dharūm dhīra — till where shall I hold dhīra (patience); ātām mana karūm sthira — now (let me) make (my) mind sthira (steady). Tukā says: jīva — (my) jīva; aiśī bhākitase kīmva — is bhākitase (uttering, pleading) such a kīmva (cry, plea).
What it means
A short urgent-petition verse. Uśīra kām kelā — krpāḷuvā Viṭhṭhalā — why have you delayed, compassionate Viṭhṭhal? The opening-protest: the Lord is delaying; why?
Maja dile kōṇā hātī — kāya mānilī niścintī — into whose hand have you given me — what certainty have you taken? The accusation-question: whose-hand have you-left-me-to? what ease-of-mind have you-found-for-yourself (by leaving me)? The implicit-claim: the Lord cannot have ease-of-mind while-his-bhakta is suffering.
Kōṭhavarī dharūm dhīra — ātām mana karūm sthira — until-where shall I hold dhīra — now (let me) make (my) mind sthira. The exhaustion-confession: my patience is exhausted; let-me-just-make-my-mind-steady (resigned).
The close: Tukā mhaṇe jīva — aiśī bhākitase kīmva — my jīva is uttering such a cry-plea. The verse-as-itself-the-plea.
For someone today
A short urgent-petition. Why have you done delay, compassionate Viṭṭhal? Into whose hand have you given me — what certainty have you taken? Until where shall I hold dhīra — now (let me) make (my) mind sthira. My jīva is uttering such a cry-plea. The verse permits direct protest in bhakti-mode — naming-the-delay, naming-the-exhaustion-of-patience. The bhakti-paradox: the very-Lord whose-delay-causes-suffering is the only-one to-whom-the-protest-can-be-addressed.
Where this applies
- The canonical why-have-you-delayed urgent petition
- Recognizing into-whose-hand-have-you-given-me abandonment-protest
- Until-where-shall-I-hold-dhīra exhaustion-of-patience
- Direct-protest as bhakti-mode