Abhanga 2991
You can honestly name how a sudden disruption felt like a trick that tore your family apart, even while still speaking to God about it.
The verse
बरा शिरविला । फाटक्यामध्यें पाव ॥१॥
भुरळें घातलें । एकाएकीं भावासी ॥ध्रु.॥
हातीं फांशाचे गुंडाळे । कोण चाळे गृहस्था हे ॥२॥
पाहा दुरिवरी विच्छिन्न । केला परी संसार ॥३॥
Literal translation
Barā śiravilā — (with a)barā(good, ironic) (deed) (he) hasśiravilā(pushed-in, inserted); phāṭakyāmadhe pāva — (his) foot into thephāṭakya(broken-piece). Bhuraḷe ghātale eka-ekī bhāvāsī — suddenly threw-bhuraḷē(confusion) on (my)bhāva(brother). Hātī phāmśāñce guṇḍaḷē — in (his) hand — thephāmśāñce guṇḍaḷē(coil-of-snare-noose); kōṇa chāḷē grhasthā he — whatchāḷē(tricks, plays) (are these), grhastha? Pāhā durivarī vichhinna — look from-far —vichhinna(severed); kelā parī samsāra — (he) has-made thesamsāra(family-life) (severed).
What it means
A 3-verse trickster-Lord image-verse by Tukyā-bandhu (or contextually-Kānhā). NON-Tukārām — part of the extended-cluster.
The image: the Lord pushes-his-foot-into-the-broken-piece (= intrudes-on-the-family); throws-confusion-on-the-brother; has-a-snare-coil in-hand; tricks-the-householder; from-afar, the family-samsāra is-severed.
The bhakta-brother accuses-the-Lord-of-being-a-trickster-with-snare-tools who-disrupted-the-family.
For someone today
In this short, sharp verse, Tukaram's brother describes God almost like a trickster who sneaks into the family's life, causes sudden confusion for his brother, and carries what feels like a snare in his hand, leaving the household torn apart from a distance. It's an unusually raw image: instead of praising God's grace, the poet accuses him of disrupting an ordinary family's life like a con artist. It reminds us that grief and disruption, even when we believe a higher power is behind them, can honestly be named as unfair and confusing rather than quietly accepted.
मराठी: या छोट्या पण तीव्र अभंगात तुकारामांचा भाऊ देवाचं वर्णन जवळजवळ एखाद्या ठकसेनासारखं करतो, जो कुटुंबाच्या आयुष्यात हलकेच शिरतो, भावाला अचानक भांबावून टाकतो आणि हातात जणू सापळ्याचा गोफ घेऊन उभा असतो, आणि दुरूनच संसार विस्कटून टाकतो. देवाच्या कृपेचं गुणगान करण्याऐवजी तो थेट आरोप करतो की देवाने एखाद्या ठकासारखं सामान्य कुटुंबाचं आयुष्य विस्कटलं. यातून हे कळतं की दुःख आणि उलथापालथ, ती एखाद्या मोठ्या शक्तीमुळे झाली असं वाटलं तरी, ती निमूटपणे स्वीकारण्याऐवजी अन्याय्य आणि गोंधळात टाकणारी आहे असं प्रामाणिकपणे म्हणता येतं.
Where this applies
- When a sudden change has thrown your family or household into confusion
- When you feel like fate has quietly trapped someone you love
- When you're angry at circumstances that pulled your family apart
- When you want language for feeling deceived by events beyond your control