Abhanga 2982
The one who took the loved one away is unmistakably the Lord himself, and only direct lived experience makes that plain.
The verse
मूळस्थळ ज्याचें गोमतीचे तीरीं । तो हा सारी दोरी खेळवितो ॥१॥
ऐसें हे कळलें असावें सकळां । चोर त्या वेगळा नाहीं दुजा ॥ध्रु.॥
वैष्णव हे रे तयाचे पाळती । खूण हे निरुती सांगितली ॥२॥
तुकयाबंधु म्हणे आलें अनुभवास । तेणें च आम्हांस नागविलें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Mūla-sthaḷa jyāñce gōmatīñce tīrī — (he) whosemūla-sthaḷa(original-place) is at theGomatī-tīra(Gomatī-shore = Dvārakā); tō hā sārī dōrī khēḷavitō — he plays-with (us) — driving thedōrī(rope) assārī(charioteer). Aise he kaḷale asāve sakaḷām — this should-be-known to-all; chōra tyā vegaḷā nāhī dujā — the thief is no-other than him. Vaiṣṇava he re tayāñce pāḷatī — theVaiṣṇavashere are hispāḷatī(guards, sentinels); khūṇa he nirutī sāngitalī — thekhūṇa(sign) has-been-toldnirutī(clearly). Tukyā-bandhu mhaṇe — Tukārām's-brother says; āle anubhavāsa — teṇe cha āmhāmsa nāgavile — (this) has-come to (our)anubhava— by-which (he) himself hasnāgavile(stripped, robbed) us.
What it means
A striking 3-verse Lord-identification verse by Tukyā-bandhu. Part of the lament-cluster (2977-2987).
Verse 1 (the identification): Mūla-sthaḷa jyāñce gōmatīñce tīrī — tō hā sārī dōrī khēḷavitō — whose original-place is at Gomatī-shore — he plays-with-(us)-driving-the-rope as charioteer. The identification: the Lord-from-Gomatī-shore — Gomatī-tīra = the river-Gomatī's-shore in Dvārakā (Krṣṇa's-city). The Krṣṇa-Dvārakādhīśa is who-stole-Tukārām.
Dhrūpada: Aise he kaḷale asāve sakaḷām — chōra tyā vegaḷā nāhī dujā — this should-be-known to-all — the thief is no-other than him. The clear-identification: the thief-of-Tukārām is the Dvārakādhīśa-Krṣṇa.
Verse 2: Vaiṣṇava he re tayāñce pāḷatī — khūṇa he nirutī sāngitalī — the Vaiṣṇavas here are his guards — the sign has-been-told clearly. The accomplices-named: the Vaiṣṇavas here (in Dehu/Maharashtra) are the Lord's-sentinels; the khūṇa (sign, mark, evidence) is-clear.
Close: Tukyā-bandhu mhaṇe āle anubhavāsa — teṇe cha āmhāmsa nāgavile — (this) has-come to-our-anubhava — by-which he-himself has-stripped-us. The closing-claim: we-have-experienced-this; the Lord-himself-stripped-us-of-our-Tukārām.
This is the most-specific-identification in the cluster: the Lord from Gomatī-shore (Dvārakā) is the thief who-took-Tukārām, and the local-Vaiṣṇavas were-his-guards.
For someone today
This is a striking verse in which Kānhōbā names exactly who took his brother. The one whose true home is on the banks of the Gomatī — that is, Krṣṇa of Dvārakā — is the one steering us all, holding the reins like a charioteer. Everyone should know this clearly: the thief is none other than him. The Vaiṣṇavas here are his own guards, keeping watch, and the sign of this has been told plainly. Tukārām's brother says: this has come to us through our own direct experience — it is he himself who has stripped us bare. The verse identifies the thief who took Tukārām as the Lord of Dvārakā himself, names the local Vaiṣṇavas as his accomplices, and grounds the whole claim not in argument but in lived experience.
मराठी: हा एक ठसठशीत अभंग आहे, ज्यात कान्होबा आपल्या भावाला कोणी नेले हे स्पष्टपणे सांगतात. ज्याचे मूळस्थान गोमतीच्या तीरावर आहे — म्हणजे द्वारकेचा कृष्ण — तोच सारथ्यासारखा दोरी हाती धरून आपल्याला खेळवत असतो. हे सर्वांना स्पष्ट कळावे — चोर दुसरा कोणी नसून तोच आहे. इथले वैष्णव हेच त्याचे पहारेकरी आहेत, आणि याची खूण स्पष्टपणे सांगितली गेली आहे. तुकयाबंधू म्हणतात — हे आमच्या स्वतःच्या अनुभवातून समोर आले आहे — त्यानेच आम्हाला लुटले आहे. हा अभंग तुकारामांना नेणाऱ्या चोराची स्पष्ट ओळख करून देतो — तो स्वतः द्वारकेचा प्रभू आहे; इथले वैष्णव त्याचे साथीदार आहेत; आणि हा सारा दावा तर्काने नव्हे तर प्रत्यक्ष अनुभवातूनच सिद्ध होतो.
Where this applies
- When you suspect that a painful loss in your life carries the unmistakable mark of a higher power at work
- When you feel like even the people and community around you were somehow caught up in what happened
- When you trust your own lived experience over abstract explanation to understand a loss
- When you want to name God directly as responsible, rather than staying vague about what happened