Abhanga 3015
Ask for one thing only, the company of the divine and of saints, life after life, and trust that nothing blocks that prayer from being heard.
The verse
वास पंढरीचा जन्म सदा देई । आणीक दुजें मागणें तुज नाहीं ॥१॥
आर्त पुरवावें भेटी देऊन । नको उपेक्षूं आलिया शरण ॥ध्रु.॥
संतसमागम ऐसा दे लावुनि । आणीक दुजें कांहीं नेणें तुजवांचूनि ॥२॥
नाहीं आडताळा त्रैलाक्यामाजी सरता । विनवी तुकयाबंधु चरणीं ठेवूनि माथा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Vāsa Paṇḍharīñcā janma sadā deī — give (me) residence at Paṇḍharī at every birth always; āṇīka dujē māgaṇe tuja nāhī — no other asking from you. Ārta puravāve bhēṭī deūna — fulfill theārta(longing) by giving (me)bhēṭī(meeting); nakō upekṣūm āliyā śaraṇa — do notupekṣūm(neglect) those who have come forśaraṇa. Santa-samāgama aisā de lāvuni — suchsanta-samāgama(sant-company) give-(me)-attached; āṇīka dujē kāmhī neṇe tujavāñchūnī — I do not know any other — apart-from-you. Nāhī āḍatāḷā trailōkyāmāji saratā — there is noāḍatāḷā(obstacle), (you are)saratā(valid) in thetrailokya; vinavī tukayā-bandhu charaṇī ṭheunī māthā — Tukārām's-brother petitions, placing (his) head at the feet.
What it means
A POST-CLUSTER canonical Vārkarī-yearning prayer by Tukyā-bandhu. NON-Tukārām. This is the first-verse-after the cluster-closing ॥३७॥ at 3014. The tonal-resolution of the cluster has given-way to-a-pure-positive-petition.
The petition: (1) give-me-Paṇḍharī-residence at-every-birth; (2) no-other-asking; (3) fulfill-longing-by-meeting; (4) don't-neglect-the-śaraṇāgata; (5) attach-me-with-sant-samāgama; (6) I know no-other-apart-from-you; (7) you are saratā (valid) in-the-trailokya-without-obstacle.
The closing — placing-head-at-the-feet, petitioning — is the formal-Vārkarī-petition-mode. This is the resolution of the cluster's-entire-arc: from-grief-and-protest to-mature-bhakti-petition.
For someone today
After the long cluster of grief closes, Kānhobā offers a simple, mature prayer of yearning. He asks for just one thing, life after life: to live in Paṇḍharī, and nothing beyond that. He asks the Lord to satisfy that longing with a real meeting and never to turn away anyone who comes seeking refuge. He asks to be kept close to the company of saints, since he knows nothing else worth wanting apart from the Lord. And he trusts that nothing in the three worlds can stand in the way of that prayer being heard, bowing his head at the Lord's feet as he asks. It shows how, after grief and protest, devotion can settle into asking for just one thing — the divine's company and the company of saints — and trusting fully that the prayer will be answered.
मराठी: दीर्घ विलापमालिका संपल्यानंतर कान्होबा एक साधी, प्रगल्भ आर्त प्रार्थना करतो. जन्मोजन्मी त्याला एकच गोष्ट हवी आहे — पंढरीत वास्तव्य, त्याहून वेगळे काही नको. आपली ही आर्तता प्रत्यक्ष भेटीने पुरवावी आणि शरण आलेल्यांकडे दुर्लक्ष करू नये, अशी तो विनंती करतो. संतांची संगत लाभावी अशी तो मागणी करतो, कारण परमेश्वराशिवाय दुसरे काही त्याला ठाऊकच नाही. आणि त्याला विश्वास आहे की त्रैलोक्यात या प्रार्थनेला अडवणारे काहीही नाही, म्हणून तो चरणी मस्तक ठेवून विनवणी करतो. दुःख आणि तक्रारीनंतर भक्ती अशी स्थिरावते की फक्त एकच गोष्ट मागितली जाते — परमेश्वराची आणि संतांची संगत — आणि ती प्रार्थना पूर्ण ऐकली जाईल असा पूर्ण विश्वास असतो, हेच हा अभंग सांगतो.
Where this applies
- POST-CLUSTER (after-cluster-closing-॥३७॥-at-3014)
- NON-Tukārām composition — signed by Tukyā-bandhu
- Canonical Paṇḍharī-residence-at-each-birth, no-other-asking, sant-sanga yearning
- The cluster's-final-tone: pure-positive-petition after-resolution