संत साहित्य
Work in progress. Translations and commentary are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies or hallucinations — please use your own judgement and check against the original sources.
संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3011 of 4582

Abhanga 3011

A close, trusted bond can make formal asking unnecessary, because love and merit already provide what is needed.

Part of Kānhōbā's lament-cluster (2977-3014)
NON-Tukārām composition — signed by Tukyā-bandhu

The verse

पत्र उचटिलें प्रेत्नें । ग्वाही कराया कारणें । नाहींतरी पुण्यें । तुझ्या काय उणें आम्हां ॥१॥ नांव तुझें चि करोनि । आहों सुखें पोट भरोनि । केली जाणवणी । म्हणउनि नाहीं म्हणसील ॥ध्रु.॥ आतां इतकियाउपरी । दे नको भलतें करीं । म्हणती ॠणकरी । आमुचा इतकें उदंड ॥२॥ तुकयाबंधु जागा । अळवावया पांडुरंगा । केला कांहीं मागायाची । नव्हती गरज ॥३॥

Literal translation

Patra uchaṭile pretnethepatra(letter, deed) wasuchaṭilē(opened, broken-seal) bypretna(effort); gvāhī karāyā kāraṇefor the purpose of making (a)gvāhī(witness); nāhī-tarī puṇye — tujhyā kāya uṇe āmhāmotherwise — by yourpuṇya— what isuṇe(lacking) for us. Nāva tujhe chi karōnī — āhōm sukhe pōṭa bharōnīusing yournāva(name), we are happily filling (our) belly; kelī jāṇavaṇī — mhaṇauni nāhī mhaṇasīla(we) made thejāṇavaṇī(notification) — so (you) won't saynāhī(no). Ātām itakiyā-uparī — de nakō bhalate karīnow above this — give — don't makebhalate(something-else); mhaṇatī rṇa-karī — āmuchā itake udaṇḍa(people) call (us) yourrṇa-karī(creditors) — and that is alreadyudaṇḍa(much). Tukayā-bandhu jāgāTukārām's-brother wakes/keeps-awake; aḷavāvayā Pāṇḍurangāto call out (to) Pāṇḍurangā; kelā kāmhī māgāyāñcī — navhatī garajathere was nogaraja(need) of asking.

What it means

A 3-verse legal-document image verse by Tukyā-bandhu. NON-Tukārām.

The brother frames-the-dispute legally: the patra (deed, written-document) was opened for-the-purpose-of-providing-witness; we don't lack anything by your puṇya; using your name, we fill our belly happily; we've-made-the-notification so you-can't-claim ignorance. The bhakta-claims rṇa-karī (creditor) status — people-already-call-us your-creditors. The closing-claim: no-need-of-asking-for-anything — the bhakta has-the-Lord's-friendship and-asking-formally is-unnecessary.

For someone today

Kānhobā frames this like a legal claim. He says he had the deed opened as formal proof, so there could be no denying it — though truly, given the Lord's own merit, nothing should be lacking for them anyway. Living off the Lord's name, they've been filling their bellies happily, and they've made sure the Lord knows it, so he can't later claim ignorance. Now he insists: just give what's owed, don't complicate it — people already call them the Lord's creditors, and that alone is a heavy claim. Yet Tukārām's brother stays alert simply to call out to Pāṇḍuranga, admitting there was never really any need to formally ask. It shows how a close, trusted bond can make formal asking unnecessary, because love and merit already provide what is needed.

मराठी: कान्होबा येथे हे जणू एक कायदेशीर दावा मांडल्यासारखे बोलतो. आपण साक्षीसाठी मुद्दाम दस्तऐवज उघडून घेतला, म्हणजे नाकारता येणार नाही, असे तो सांगतो — तरी खरे तर, परमेश्वराच्या पुण्याईमुळे आपल्याला काहीच उणे नाही, हेही तो मान्य करतो. परमेश्वराच्याच नावावर आपण सुखाने पोट भरत आलो आहोत, आणि याची कल्पना परमेश्वराला असावी म्हणून त्यांनी स्पष्ट कळवूनही ठेवले आहे, त्यामुळे नंतर अनभिज्ञतेचा बहाणा करता येणार नाही. आता तो ठामपणे म्हणतो — जे द्यायचे ते दे, वेगळे काही करू नकोस; लोक आम्हाला तुझे कर्जदार म्हणतात, तेवढेच खूप आहे. तरीही तुकारामांचा भाऊ केवळ पांडुरंगाला हाक मारण्यासाठी जागा राहतो, आणि कबूल करतो की खरे तर औपचारिक मागणी करण्याची कधीच गरज नव्हती. जवळचा, विश्वासाचा नातेसंबंध औपचारिक मागण्या अनावश्यक करतो, कारण प्रेम आणि पुण्याई आधीच आवश्यक ते देतात, हेच हा अभंग सांगतो.

Where this applies