Abhanga 2993
You can honor someone's public reputation for kindness while still honestly naming the personal pain their actions caused you.
The verse
कनवाळ कृपाळ । उदार दयाळ मायाळ । म्हणवितोसी परि केवळ । गळेकाटू दिसतोसी ॥१॥
काय केलें होतें आम्हीं । सांग तुझें एकये जन्मीं । जालासी जो स्वामी । एवढी सत्ता करावया ॥ध्रु.॥
भलेपणाचा पवाडा । बरा दाविला रोकडा । करूनि बंधु वेडा । जोडा माझा विखंडिला ॥२॥
तुकयाबंधु म्हणे भला । कैसें म्हणताती तुजला । जीव आमुचा नेला । अंत पाहिला कांहींतरी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kanavāḷa krpāḷa — udāra dayāḷa māyāḷa — loving, compassionate, generous, kind-hearted, affectionate; mhaṇavitōsī parī kevaḷa — you make (others) call (you these), but really; gaḷe-kāṭū disatōsī — you look like (only) agaḷe-kāṭū(throat-cutter). Kāya kele hōte āmhī — what had we done; sānga tujhe ekye janmī — say! — in your one (other) lifetime; jālāsī jō svāmī — that you became (our)svāmī; evaḍhī sattā karāvayā — (in order) to wield suchsattā(power)? Bhalepaṇāñcā pavāḍā — thepavāḍā(praise-of-greatness) ofbhalepaṇa(good-ness); barā dāvilā rokaḍā — (you) have shown (it) directly, ironically-well; karūnī bandhu vēḍā — making (my) brothervēḍā(mad); jōḍā mājhā vikhaṇḍilā — (you) have severed myjōḍā(pair, partnership). Tukyā-bandhu mhaṇe bhalā — Tukārām's-brother says:bhalā(good); kaise mhaṇatātī tujalā — how do they call you that?; jīva āmuchā nelā — (you) took ourjīva; anta pāhilā kāmhī-tarī — (you) looked at (my)anta(end), somehow.
What it means
A striking 3-verse Lord-as-throat-cutter protest verse by Tukyā-bandhu. NON-Tukārām.
The bhakta-brother contrasts the Lord's-praised-titles (loving, compassionate, generous, kind, affectionate) with-what-he-actually-experiences (just-a-throat-cutter). The jōḍā-vikhaṇḍilā (pair-severed) — the family-partnership broken.
For someone today
This is a striking, bitter protest by Kānhōbā, contrasting the Lord's reputation with his own personal experience. You get people to call you loving, compassionate, generous, kind-hearted, and affectionate, he says, but to me you look like nothing more than a throat-cutter. What had we ever done — tell me — in some other lifetime of yours, that you became our master with such power over us? You've shown your so-called goodness quite plainly — by driving my brother mad and severing the bond we shared. Tukārām's brother says: good indeed — how do people even call you that? You took our very life; you seem to have had your own ending in mind all along. The verse lets a devotee hold both truths at once: honoring the Lord's public reputation for kindness while honestly naming the very personal pain his actions have caused.
मराठी: हा कान्होबांचा एक तीव्र, कडवट निषेध आहे, ज्यात ते देवाच्या कीर्तीची त्यांच्या स्वतःच्या अनुभवाशी तुलना करतात. तू लोकांकडून स्वतःला प्रेमळ, कृपाळू, उदार, दयाळू, मायाळू म्हणवून घेतोस, ते म्हणतात, पण मला तर तू केवळ गळा कापणारा वाटतोस. आम्ही तरी काय केले होते — सांग — तुझ्या कुठल्या तरी दुसऱ्या जन्मात — की तू आमचा स्वामी झालास, इतकी सत्ता चालवायला? तुझा भलेपणा तू चांगलाच रोखठोक दाखवलास — माझ्या भावाला वेडे करून, आमची जोडी तोडून टाकलीस. तुकयाबंधू म्हणतात — छान — तुला असे कसे म्हणतात लोक? तू आमचा जीव नेलास; तुला माझा शेवटच जणू आधीपासून ठरवलेला होता. हा अभंग भक्ताला दोन्ही गोष्टी एकाच वेळी मांडू देतो — देवाच्या दयाळू कीर्तीचा मान राखणे, आणि त्याच्याच कृतीने झालेल्या स्वतःच्या वेदनेला प्रामाणिकपणे शब्द देणे.
Where this applies
- Part of Kānhōbā's extended-lament-cluster (2977-2997+)
- NON-Tukārām composition — signed by Tukyā-bandhu
- Striking Lord-claims-compassion but-looks-like-throat-cutter protest
- Jōḍā-vikhaṇḍilā — family-partnership-severed