Abhanga 2998
Kanhoba's grief asks why God, having already taken so much, must also consume the very root and foundation of the family rather than just its fruits.
The verse
निसुर संसार करून । होतों पोट भरून । केली विवसी निर्माण । देवपण दाखविलें ॥१॥
ऐसा काढियेला निस । काय म्हुण सहित वंश । आणिलें शेवटास । हाउस तरी न पुरे ॥ध्रु.॥
उरलों पालव्या सेवटीं । तें ही न देखवे दृष्टी । दोघांमध्ये तुटी । रोकडीचि पाडीली ॥२॥
तुकयाबंधु म्हणे गोड । बहु जालें अति वाड । म्हणोनी कां बुड । मुर्यांसहित खावें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Nisura samsāra karūna — (in)nisura samsāra(steady, quiet household-life) doing; hōtōm pōṭa bharūna — we werepōṭa bharūna(filling-belly); kelī vivasī nirmāṇa — (you) madevivasī(destitute) (us), creating (this state); Devapaṇa dākhavile — (you) showed (your)Devapaṇa(godhood). Aisā kāḍhiyelā nisa — suchnisa(essence, sap) (you) drew-out; kāya mhuṇa sahita vamśa — why with (the whole)vamśa(lineage); āṇile sevaṭāsa — (you) have brought (it) to (the)sevaṭa(end); hāusa tarī na pure — thehāusa(large-store, desire) does not get-filled. Uralōm pālavyā sevaṭī — (I am) left as apālavyā(leaf-shoot) at thesevaṭa; te hī na dekhave drṣṭī — even-that is not visible to (your) eye; dōghām-madhye tuṭī — between (the) two (= the brothers); rōkaḍī-chi pāḍīlī — (the)tuṭī(cut, severance) (was) maderōkaḍī(cash, immediate). Tukyā-bandhu mhaṇe gōḍa — Tukārām's-brother says:gōḍa(sweet); bahu jāle atī vāḍa — very-much,atī-vāḍa(very-great); mhaṇōnī kām buḍa — therefore — why (the)buḍa(root); muryām-sahita khāve — (why) eat (it) with-the-mūṛyām(the fruits)?
What it means
A 3-verse extended-grief verse by Tukyā-bandhu. NON-Tukārām — part of the extended-Kānhōbā-cluster (2977-3007+).
The brother laments: the family was sustaining itself in nisura-samsāra (quiet-life); the Lord took-Tukārām and-showed-his-Devapaṇa (godhood); now I am-left as-a-leaf-shoot at-the-end-of-the-branch (alone-and-thin). The closing-image: gōḍa (the-sweet, the Lord's-favor) is-much-and-great; but why-eat-the-root-along-with-the-fruits? = why-take-everything-including-the-foundation?
For someone today
This is Kānhobā's grief, not Tukārām's own words. He remembers that their family once lived quietly, simply earning enough to fill their bellies, until the Lord drew Tukārām away and revealed his own divine power through him. Now Kānhobā feels reduced to a thin, bare leaf left at the end of the branch — overlooked, unseen even by the Lord he serves. The Lord's grace tasted sweet and was more than generous, he admits, but he still asks why it had to consume the family's whole root along with its fruit, rather than leaving the foundation intact. It gives voice to the ache of losing not just a person you loved, but the very ground your life was built on.
मराठी: ही तुकारामांच्या भावाची, कान्होबाची, दुःखातिरेकाची कहाणी आहे — ती तुकारामांची स्वतःची नाही. तो आठवतो की आपले कुटुंब पूर्वी साध्या, शांत संसारात पोटापुरते कमावत होते, तोच परमेश्वराने तुकारामांना आपल्याकडे ओढून घेतले आणि त्यांच्यातून आपले देवपण दाखवले. आता कान्होबाला वाटते की तो फांदीच्या टोकावरील एका बारीक कोवळ्या पानासारखा उरला आहे — दुर्लक्षित, ज्या परमेश्वराची सेवा करतो त्यालाही न दिसणारा. परमेश्वराची कृपा गोड आणि विपुल होती हे तो मान्य करतो, पण तरी विचारतो की तिने कुटुंबाचे मूळच फळांसकट का गिळावे, पाया शाबूत का राहू नये? आपल्या आवडत्या माणसाबरोबरच आपल्या आयुष्याचा पायाही हरवल्यासारखे वाटते, तेव्हाचे दुःख हा अभंग बोलका करतो.
Where this applies
- When you feel a loss has taken not just a person, but the entire foundation your family or life was built on.
- When you feel small and unnoticed in the middle of your own grief.
- When you want to say plainly that what was taken from you went further than seemed necessary or fair.
- When you're the one left thin and alone after everyone else's needs in the family were met first.